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Current and Upcoming Events

Suffering the Silence: Chronic Lyme Disease in an Age of Denial

Monday, September 28, 2015

A living portrait of Chronic Lyme disease and its patients’ struggles for recognition and treatment, Suffering the Silence, originally Allie Cashel's senior project, is now a full-length memoir that details Cashel's own experience with Chronic Lyme and shares the stories of a number of other patients from around the world.

Born in London and raised in Westchester, NY, Allie was diagnosed with Lyme at age seven. Now a passionate advocate for increased awareness and reformed treatment of Chronic Lyme, she is the founder of sufferingthesilence.com, an online community for people living with chronic illness, and a member of the Jr. Board of the Tick Borne Disease Alliance.

Introduced by Mary Caponegro and followed by a Q&A, this event is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are required. Copies of Suffering the Silence will be available for sale and signing from Oblong Books & Music.

Past Events

Science on the Edge lecture-"Finding the genes that make us human"

Wednesday, September 24, 2008
A lecture by Michael Tibbetts, Biology program.
What are the genetic bases of the qualities that we think of as uniquely human? Is there a set of “humaness” genes? Large-scale genome sequencing projects in multiple species are generating the kind of data that allow us, for the first time, to seriously ask such big questions. An article published in the September 5 issue of Science Magazine (Human-specific gain of function in a developmental enhancer, by Prabhakar, S. et al.) describes a gene whose human-specific activity may be necessary to form an opposable thumb. The nature of the differences between the human and chimpanzee versions of the gene they identify supports a popular model for how small modifications in genomes can lead to significant changes in physical characteristics. The methodologies employed by these researchers may lead to the discovery of genes important for other human-specific characteristics.
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Parasites negatively impact their host’s fitness, potentially damaging host tissues and impairing host physiological or behavioral performance. In response to parasitic infection, hosts may alter their physiology, behavior or life history in ways that minimize the costs of infection. In this talk, I examine the optimal life history response of hosts when infected with parasites that have varying impacts. In addition, I explore the impacts of schistosome infection in deer mice by examining host physiology, survival and reproductive investment. In accordance with predictions, deer mice infected with this parasite increase their investment in offspring.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Math & Computer Science lecture-"Calculus, Supersized"

Thursday, September 25, 2008
A lecture by Gregory Landweber, Mathematics program.
In calculus, we teach you how to take derivatives, and then once you're good at that, we tell you about second derivatives. But how do we go in the other direction and try to take HALF a derivative? It turns out that to take a half derivative, your functions need to come in pairs, analogously to how a complex number can be thought of as a pair of numbers, one real and another imaginary. Supersymmetry is the study of such pairings. This talk will discuss different ways that supersymmetry arises, both through explicit constructions, and through the notion of superspace.
**Some exposure to multivariable calculus and linear algebra will be assumed**
4:15 pm RKC 111

Thursday, October 2, 2008
A lecture by Robert McGrail, Computer Science program.

L'Hopital's Rule is a useful tool for computing limits with indeterminate forms. In fact, it is too useful. The speaker demonstrates how some of these limits can be computed without this rule. This talk is a shamless ruse designed to introduce the 0-1 law of finite mondel theory as well as expose the unwitting members of the audience to some very beautiful mathematics.

4:15 pm RKC 111

Bard Summer Research Institute Student Poster Session

Thursday, October 2, 2008
Join the SM&C division faculty and students in presenting their summer research
7:00 pm RKC lobby

Thursday, October 9, 2008
Led by Michael Tibbetts, Academic director, Bard-Rockefeller Semester in Science program.
The Bard-Rockefeller Semester in Science in New York City (BRSS) is an intensive one-semester program designed for advanced science students, particularly those in the fields of neuroscience, biochemistry, molecular biology, developmental biology, biophysics, and genetics.

Students spend a semester living and working in New York City working in the laboratory with faculty from Rockefeller University and taking specially-designed science classes at Rockefeller and at Bard Hall, in conjunction with Bard’s program in Globalization and International Affairs. For more information, please visit http://www.bard.edu/brss/

Biology Seminar - "Invasion Ecology and Metacommunity Dynamics"

Thursday, October 16, 2008
A lecture by Martha F. Hoopes, Mount Holyoke College

Early metacommunity theory emphasized four distinct models to explain the spatial structure, dynamics, and species composition of communities: species sorting, patch dynamics, mass effects, and the neutral model. Several tests of metacommunity theory have focused on these models and on determining their relative importance in explaining spatial community structure. Applying metacommunity theory to invasion ecology redirects the focus to examine how theory on spatial community dynamics can inform our understanding of spatial interactions when all species are not considered equal. This talk examines how a focal species approach affects the interpretation of processes critical to metacommunity dynamics. I offer some preliminary thoughts on conceptual differences between the four conceptual metacommunity models and explore these with three invasion case studies.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Math seminar - "The Mathematics of Fairness"

How do you divide a candy bar fairly between two people? The most popular solution is known by many and can even be found in the bible: one person divides the bar in half, the other gets to choose which piece she wants. But what happens if three people are dividing the candy? Worse yet, what do you do if you're dividing a collection of indivisible goods? Things like TV's and pianos are not much use cut in half! The idea of fairness itself is considerably more complicated when more than two people are involved, but mathematics can be surprisingly useful in these situations.
4:30 pm RKC 111

Science on the Edge lecture-"The LHC: Testing the Standard Model and Beyond"

Tuesday, October 21, 2008
A lecture by Matthew Deady, Physics program
The Large Hadron Collider at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland has just been turned on for initial testing. The "Standard Model" of particles and fields has successfully matched theory and experiment for more than 30 years, and results from the LHC will put the model to its most stringent tests yet. The large energies available will also undoubtedly answer questions about extensions of and alternatives to the Standard Model, including supersymmetry, dark matter, dark energy, and string theory. In this lecture, these theories and what might be learned about them from the LHC will be explored. We will also discuss the spurious concerns that the LHC might cause a black hole that would swallow the universe.

This talk will focus on the theories of particles, as a complement to the October 2007 talk which focused on the accelerator technology itself. An edited version of that talk appears in the latest issue of the Bardian.

Virtual graphical environments (think Second Life or World Of Warcraft) have a number of real-world applications including training first responders, urban planning, and military training. Technology for creating both “geo-typical” terrain (e.g., a generic small city) and “geo-specific” terrain (e.g., downtown Kingston) has improved dramatically in recent years. What is missing is the ability to create realistic populations of regular people to populate the landscape: people commuting, going to lunch, taking their kids to daycare, et cetera.

This talk will first review some motivating applications, the current state-of-the-art in terrain generation, and the general problem. Approaches to creating realistic agent populations will be reviewed, including crowd modeling, game technologies, and work in AI-style cognitive architectures. Two key challenges will then be described: the creation and maintenance of realistic behaviors, and the idea of scalable cognition or cognition on demand. Some research ideas to address these challenges will be briefly sketched.

Bio:
Peter Selfridge received his Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Rochester and spent 19 years at Bell Labs and then AT&T Bell Labs doing research into sensory robotics, artificial intelligence, knowledge representation, software visualization, interactive database exploration, 3D web technologies, and more. For the last 5 years he has supported the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in their mission of funding revolutionary R&D to help maintain the technological superiority of the United States. He also does independent research in Artificial Intelligence.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Mathematics Summer Research Talks

Thursday, October 30, 2008
Sylvia Naples - 4:15 p.m.
"An upper bound for the number of graceful labelings of a path with N edges"

Thursday, November 6, 2008
A lecture by Brooke A. Jude, candidate for the open position in Biology.

Investigation into Vibrio cholerae revealed that this organism colonizes both chitinous aquatic surfaces and the human small intestine via GbpA. Sequence analysis has revealed a GbpA homolog in all other Vibrio species that have been sequenced to date. We hypothesize that other aquatic Vibrio, such as Vibrio fluvialis, Vibrio vulnificus, or Vibrio parahemolyticus may also utilize GbpA to bind to environmental and intestinal surfaces. Current investigations include screening of aquatic isolates for attachment potential via GbpA.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
A lecture by Charles Doran, University of Alberta.

We'll start by investigating the combinatorial properties of certain lattice polytopes in R^n, specifically reflexive polygons. By reinterpreting these as Newton polygons, we will relate these combintorial objects to algebraic equations naturally defined on complex tori. The vanishing loci of these equations are then elliptic curves, whose basic geometric and topological properties we will discuss. If time permits, we may also describe an application to string theory.
4:30 pm RKC 111

Discrete Mathematics Day at Bard College

Saturday, November 8, 2008
Speakers include:

Cristina Ballantine, College of the Holy Cross
"Expander Graphs: Algebraic and Combinatorial Constructions"

Margaret Bayer, University of Kansas
"Flag Vectors of Polytopes: An Overview"

Debra Boutin, Hamilton College
"The Determining Set: A (Smallest) Set that Identifies Every Vertex in a Graph"

Robert McGrail, Bard College
"Knots, Quandles, and the Constraint Satisfaction Problem"

Tropical ecosystems are among the most biodiverse, most threatened, and the least studied in the world. This course will examine both practical and theoretical aspects that are unique to tropical ecosystems, including the role of geology, biogeochemical cycling, evolutionary processes and species interactions. In addition, we will discuss issues related to conservation, such as habitat fragmentation and climate change. This course will include lectures, student presentations, and research projects. Students will design, conduct, synthesize, and present a field research project. This course will involve a field trip to La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica over spring break.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
A lecture by Swapan Jain, candidate for the open position in Chemistry.

According to RNA World hypothesis, early life used RNA for information storage and chemical catalysis. Small molecules may have played an important role in this endeavor by assembling nucleic acids during prebiotic evolution. Our results with proflavine and coralyne (small organic ligands) show that reactions carried out by protein enzymes today could have been achieved by non-enzymatic means. Mechanistic studies using hydroxyl radical footprinting have also been instrumental in our understanding of RNA structure. Future work aims to understand the structural changes that occur in riboswitches (noncoding region of mRNA) upon ligand binding. I would also like to investigate whether RNA can be regulated simultaneously by multiple pathways.

4:45 pm – 6:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Science on the Edge lecture-"New Insights into the Chemistry of Depression"

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
A lecture by Richard A. Gordon, Professor of Psychology.

After the discovery of antidepressant drugs in the 1950s and the burst of research on neurotransmitters that took place in the 1960s, a scientific hypothesis about depression became firmly established in the community of researchers and clinicians: depression was rooted in depleted brain amines, such as norepinephrine and serotonin, a deficit that the antidepressants corrected. The amine hypothesis (known popularly and in pharmaceutical advertising as “chemical imbalance”) guided research throughout the rest of the 20th century. However, by the late 1990s it had become clear that direct research on the metabolism of depressed patients had failed to support the hypothesis. In this lecture I will discuss some exciting recent research that uses sophisticated techniques of brain imaging and has lent new support to the possibility that depleted amines are importantly involved in the chemistry of depression. Further commentary will be offered on the limitations and promise of this work, as well as some of the current thinking on the underpinnings of depression in the brain.
6:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Biology seminar - "A Visual Narrative about Fruit Flies"

Thursday, November 13, 2008
A lecture by Alexis Gambis, The Rockefeller University

Alexis Gambis will speak about the importance of visual imagery and narrative in both science understanding and communication. He will give insight into his current thesis work explaining the mechanisms of cellular death, how to use the fruit fly as a genetic model to study human neurodegenerative diseases, and the fluorescent toolkit to visualize neurons in the fruit fly eye . Using the camera eye, Alexis has also been actively making films with scientific themes during his graduate career. Alexis will talk about his recent films and the importance of visual storytelling in science communication, show a few clips of his film "A Fruit Fly in New York", and share his recent experience pioneering the first science film festival in New York.

Thursday, November 13, 2008
A lecture by Brett Pellock, candidate for the open position in Biology.

Bacteria use small, non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) to rapidly alter gene expression in response to changing conditions. Bacterial ncRNAs are small and difficult to identify experimentally. We are synthesizing computational and experimental methods to predict and validate the existence of ncRNAs in Shewanella oneidensis, a bacterium that can reduce a wide variety of substrates when grown anaerobically. Of particular interest is the ability of Shewanella to reduce soluble, toxic heavy metals to insoluble, much less toxic forms.

4:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Math seminar - REU information session

Thursday, November 13, 2008
Interested in summer research in mathematics?

Come to an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) information session.
Hosted by the Mathematics program

Students Sylvia Naples and Tomasz Przytycki and faculty members John Cullinan and Lauren Rose will be speaking on the application process and their own experiences with past REU's.
4:15 pm RKC 111

Monday, November 17, 2008
A lecture by Jeremy Johnson, candidate for the open position in Chemistry

The mechanism of ribonuclease toxicity toward cancerous cells involves multiple steps, including cellular uptake and evasion of the ribonuclease inhibitor protein. Both of these steps of ribonuclease cytotoxicity are proposed to be controlled by the cationic nature of the ribonuclease and its interactions with the anionic cell membrane and anionic inhibitor. To understand the role that electrostatics play in ribonuclease biology, I investigated the effect that the positive charge of ribonuclease have on their cytotoxicity.
5:30 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Biology seminar - "The zebrafish as a model for heart disease"

I will present two stories on how the zebrafish can be used as a model of heart disease. In the first story, our lab has used genetic, pharmacological and surgical tools to dissect the affect of stress on cardiac output. In the second story, we have discovered that Serum Amyloid A is required for cholesterol transport early in embryogenesis and that the failure to transport cholesterol results in defects in Hedgehog signaling.

Thursday, November 20, 2008
A lecture by Tracy Kress, candidate for the position in Biology.

From the beginning of transcription, mRNAs are processed in a myriad of ways to specify the correct timing, localization, and quantity of protein synthesized. To ensure the efficiency and accuracy of gene expression, transcription and mRNA processing steps are tightly coordinated both spatially and temporally. Despite their critical importance, few factors that regulate this coordination are known. I identified Npl3 as one such factor, and my work aims to uncover the mechanism of Npl3, and other factors, in this coordination.
4:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Math seminar - "Geometry of Infinite Graphs"

Thursday, November 20, 2008
A lecture by Jim Belk

If you draw a grid on the plane and then zoom out, the empty squares between the gridlines become smaller and smaller until they are lost to sight. The result is that the large-scale geometry of the plane is essentially the same as the large-scale geometry of an infinite grid. In the same way, many non-Euclidean geometries can be understood on a large scale using infinite graphs. In this talk, we will explore the geometry of several graphs that arise in this fashion, and we will discuss the sorts of questions that one might ask about the geometry of an infinite graph.

4:15 pm RKC 111

Chemistry search candidate lecture - "Uncovering the World of Bacterial Small RNAs"

Monday, November 24, 2008
A lecture by Jane Liu, candidate for the open position in Chemistry.

Due to their central role in regulating bacterial pathogenesis, small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) represent targets with therapeutic potential. To investigate the entire repertoire of sRNAs in the human pathogen, Vibrio cholerae, we developed a method, sRNA-Seq, to directly clone and analyze whole populations of V. cholerae transcripts, 14 to 200 nucleotides, by high-throughput pyrosequencing. From over 680,000 reads, 500 new intergenic sRNAs and 127 antisense sRNAs were identified.

5:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Computer Science candidate lecture - "Off the Desk and Into the Wild: Two Expeditions in Distributed Robot Systems Architecture"

Tuesday, November 25, 2008
A lecture by Keith O'Haracandidate for the position in Computer Science

Just as special purpose mainframe computers grew into general purpose personal computers, special purpose industrial robots are evolving into general purpose personal robots. Drawing on ideas from computer systems architecture such as parallelism, redundancy, heterogeneity, locality, and scaling laws, we propose a "robot systems architecture" perspective on the design of robot computing systems. From this perspective, two distributed robot systems built for tasks as varied as computing education and mobile robot navigation will be presented.
4:00 pm RKC 111

Tuesday, December 2, 2008
A lecture by Lisa Scheifelecandidate for the position in BiologyMobile DNA presents a considerable challenge to genome stability due to its presence as dispersed repeats. Could this instability enable adaption and thereby explain why genomes retain high levels of mobile DNA? Indeed, we have found that following experimental evolution, strains with higher levels of repetitive DNA contain a broader variation in chromosome structure. The abundance of repetitive DNA must therefore be fine-tuned so that benefit of chromosome rearrangements in promoting genome evolution outweights the potential for lethal damage.
12:30 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Science on the Edge lecture - "Preventing Web-bot Spam: Intelligence is the Key"

Tuesday, December 2, 2008
A lecture by Sven AndersonComputer Science programTelling the difference between human and automated programs such as Web-bots has become important in preventing Web-bot access to e-mail addresses, private information and limited electronic resources. CAPTCHAs, programs that can accurately judge whether a user is human or machine, are the primary line of defense against Web-bot access. For example, Google's Mail program uses CAPTHCAs to prevent Web-bots from creating bogus user accounts from which to launch spam messages. Every day humans solve about 60 million CAPTHCAs. The human "computation" expended has an unintended benefit: it can be recycled to help digitize old printed texts that are unrecognizable using optical character recognizers. This talk, intended for a general audience, will explore the vanishing difference between humans and computer programs on current text CAPTCHAs and outline efforts to keep one step ahead of the intelligent Web-bots. We will also consider other efforts to recycle human computation.
6:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Math seminar-"Rigidity and Flexibility of Structures"

Thursday, December 4, 2008
A lecture by Maria BelkMathematics programWhy are some structures rigid, but others fall down? We'll look at some simple structure and examine their rigidity. We'll start by considering bar frameworks - place the vertices of a graph in 2 or 3 dimensions, and think of the edges of the graph as bars, forced to maintain their length. After examining the rigidity of bar frameworks, we'll move to consider tensegrities. In a tensigrity framework, some of the edges are called struts and are allowed to increase in length while others are called cables and are allowed to decrease in length. These are tensegrities where the struts are suspended in the air by the cables, and yet the entire structure is rigid.
4:30 pm RKC 111

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Attention all Biology students!!!A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students.Professors Felicia Keesing and Philip Johns will be hosting tonight.
7:00 pm RKC terrace

Math & Computer Science seminar - "From Fourier Analysis to Wavelets"

Thursday, February 5, 2009
A lecture by Cliona GoldenMathematics programMath plays a key role in the workings of many electronic devices we use in day-to-day life: MP3 players, digital cameras, cellphones, .... In this talk, we will discuss two fundamental math tools, Fourier Analysis and Wavelets, for the representation and processing of signals and images.
4:15 pm RKC 111

So you really want to be a doctor? A talk for pre-med students

Saturday, February 7, 2009Dr. Delma-Jean WattsBard Class of 1998Delma-Jean received her M.D. from the Albany Medical College and was a resident, then a fellow in pediatrics at the Hasbro Children's Hospital, Providence, RI. She is a part-time faculty member at Brown University.
3:00 pm RKC 102

Science on the Edge lecture - The 2008 Nobel Prize Awards

Tuesday, February 10, 2009The 2008 Nobel Prize AwardsChristian Bracher, Physics programLecturing on the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded jointly to Yoichiro Nambu for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics and to Makoto Kobayashi and Toshilde Maskawa for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature.John Ferguson, Biology programLecturing on the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus.Michael Tibbetts, Biology programLecturing on the Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie and Roger Y. Tsien for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP.
6:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, February 10, 2009
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

The Angle Defect and Its Generalizations

Thursday, February 12, 2009Lecture byEthan BlochMathematics ProgramThe angle defect, which goes back to Descartes, is a very simple way of measuring the curvature at the vertices of a polyhedral surface in Euclidean space. The angle defect is the polyhedral (and much simpler) analog of Gaussian curvature, as studied in differential geometry. Although the angle defect is the only plausible definition of curvature at the vertices of a polyhedral surface, it turns out that there is more than one possible way to generalize this definition to arbitrary finite 2-dimensional polyhedra, and to higher dimensional polyhedra. This talk will present a few different such generalizations, and will discuss a way to compare these different generalizations in dimension 2. The talk will be elementary, though a willingness to consider higher dimensional polyhedra is required.
4:15 pm RKC 111

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, February 17, 2009
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Dynamical Systems & Number Theory

Thursday, February 19, 2009A lecture byJohn CullinanMathematics programDynamical systems have been studied in the context of population modeling, fractal geometry, and topology for much of the 20th century, but it is only recently that they have been studied for their number-theoretic applications. In fact, many open questions in number theory can be rephrased in terms of dynamical systems. This talk will be an introduction to the arithmetic of polynomial dynamics and we will also discuss our recent work on the ramification of iterated rational functions.

4:15 pm RKC 111

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, February 24, 2009
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Life stage transitions: Hormones make fish do crazy things too!

Thursday, February 26, 2009A lecture bySteven GavlikSiena CollegeMost vertebrates pass through two or more distinct life stages. Examples include hatching or birth (larval to juvenile transitions) and puberty (a juvenile to adult transition). Hormones of the endocrine system are primary controllers of the anatomical and physiological changes occurring during these life stage transitions. Fish undergo these transitions as free-living organisms, which allows for interactions between the hormonal control systems and the environment. This talk will present findings about the hormonal controls of two important fish life stage transitions – metamorphosis of Summer flounder and sex determination in American eel.
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Thursday, February 26, 2009A lecture byRebecca RyanMAT Program in MathematicsBard CollegeIn 1973 Fischer Black and Myron Scholes settled a longstanding problem in economics: how to determine the fair value of a stock option. They realized that holding specific positions in stocks and in an option could render a portfolio instantaneously risk-free. Having eliminated the risk, solving for the value of an option became a feasible mathematical procedure. This revolutionary insight sparked the explosion of the now multi-trillion dollar derivatives market.

In this presentation, I will reconstruct the Black-Scholes portfolio from the ground up, assuming basic economic or mathematical knowledge from the audience. First, learn how investors use options, stocks, short positions, and long positions to speculate and to hedge. Then, explore how casinos hedge games to cover payouts. Finally, see how the Black-Scholes portfolio is analagous to a casino's hedging strategy.
4:15 pm RKC 111

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, March 3, 2009
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Hearing space: An exploration of vibrational prey localization

Thursday, March 5, 2009A lecture byJason SchwarzLaboratory of Sensory Neuroscience, Rockefeller UniversityThe teleost fish Aplocheilus can locate and capture its insect prey on the surface of the water without any visual input. An array of mechanosensory organs on the crown of the fish's head, the neuromasts, detect water surface waves in a manner analogous to the detection of sounds by tetrapods. The fish compares the intensities and latencies of stimuli at various neuromasts to determine the direction of the wave source and analyzes the wave spectrum to determine how far the wave has propagated. In view of the robustness of the behavior and the accessibility of the nervous system, prey localization by Aplocheilus offers us an experimental system useful in the study of fast neural signal processing.
12:00 pm Laszlo Z. Bito Auditorium - RKC

Tricolorable Torus Knots are NP-Complete

Thursday, March 5, 2009A lecture byPeter Golbus, class of 2009ASC Lab, Bard CollegeThis work presents a method for associating a class of constraint satisfaction problems to a three-dimensional knot. Given a knot, one can build a knot quandle, which is generally an inﬁnite free algebra. The desired collection of problems is derived from the set of invariant relations over the knot quandle, applying theory that relates ﬁnite algebras to constraint satisfaction problems. This allows us to develop notions of tractable and NP-complete quandles and knots. In particular, we show that all tricolorable torus knots and all but at most 2 non-trivial knots with 10 or fewer crossings are NP-complete.

4:15 pm RKC 111

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, March 10, 2009
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Biodiversity Loss and the Rise of Emerging Infectious Diseases

Thursday, March 12, 2009A lecture byRichard S. OstfeldSenior Scientist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem StudiesThe rate of species extinctions, both globally and from local communities, continues to accelerate. In recent years, ecologists have asked, to what degree will ecological communities lose their ability to provide “ecosystem services” as biodiversity is lost? This talk will describe how biodiversity loss affects the risk and incidence of zoonotic diseases (diseases transmitted from non-human vertebrates to humans). Zoonotic diseases, including avian influenza, Ebola, SARS, and plague, comprise the majority of so-called emerging infectious diseases. Most zoonotic pathogens can infect several wildlife host species. However, hosts differ strongly in their capacity to support population growth of the pathogen. Some hosts act as reservoirs that amplify pathogens, whereas others act as “dilution hosts” that can absorb but do not contribute pathogens. Therefore, the diversity and species composition of the host community is fundamentally important in determining pathogen transmission and disease dynamics. Reservoir hosts tend to be abundant, widespread species that are resilient to human-caused environmental degradation. In contrast, dilution hosts are often sensitive to environmental degradation, disappearing when biodiversity is lost. This presentation will describe three case studies of diseases – Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, West Nile virus encephalitis, and Lyme disease – that are exacerbated when biodiversity is reduced. Explorations of the mechanisms that underlie the increase in disease risk with reduced biodiversity suggest that other zoonotic diseases will behave similarly. These case studies show that the current biodiversity crisis is likely to increase human exposure to many infectious diseases.
12:00 pm Laszlo Z. Bito Auditorium-RKC

Cartan's View of Einstein's Relativity

Friday, March 13, 2009A lecture byS. James Gates, Jr.John S. Toll Professor of MathematicsDirector, Center for String and Particle TheoryUniversity of MarylandGauge theories seem to describe all of the known forces in Nature...except gravity as it is normally viewed. However, using the Cartan approach to the geometry of curved manifolds, even gravitation is seen to be almost identical to other gauge theories. This talk will be accessible to math and physics majors.

12:00 pm Laszlo Z. Bito Auditiorium-RKC

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, March 17, 2009
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Thirty Days Hath September (or Diophantus, Music, and Shakespeare)

Wednesday, March 18, 2009A lecture byJeff SuzukiBrooklyn College

What do a musical scale, a calendar, and the U.S. flag have in common? They are all solutions to the problem of finding a set of whole numbers that match a particular property. The solutions rely on the use of Diophantine equations and continued fractions, which offer the best rational approximation to a given real number.

6:15 pm RKC 102

Stream Ecosystem Functioning in Urban Landscapes

Thursday, March 19, 2009A lecture byCathy GibsonSkidmore CollegeAs integrators of the landscape, streams are heavily impacted by land-use change such as urbanization. Changes in ecosystem structure associated with urbanization are well known, but how ecosystem function changes as a result of these structural changes is not well understood. This talk will examine how urbanization affects nutrient cycling and whole system metabolism in both small headwater streams and large rivers. Maintenance of downstream water quality depends on the ability of stream to retain and process nutrients. This talk will examine what drives nutrient uptake in urban streams, how it differs from forested counterparts, and discuss implications for downstream water quality. In addition, we will look at the impact of hydrological modifications via dams affects these functions, as well.

12:00 pm Laszlo Z. Bito Auditorium-RKC

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, March 31, 2009
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Newborn Screening: A Look Back and a Look Ahead

Thursday, April 2, 2009A lecture byMichele Caggana, Sc.D, FACMGDirector, New York State Department of Health, Newborn Screening ProgramNewborn screening began in New York State in 1965 with the addition of a single metabolic disorder called phenylketonuria (PKU). If you drink diet soda, you may see the bottle warning phenylketonurics not to drink these beverages. That's because prior to 1965, people who had PKU became mentally retarded and often were institutionalized because their disease was caught too late. With the advent of newborn screening, the Wadsworth Center, New York State's Public Health Laboratory could identify those affected babies at birth, before they suffered significant cognitive impairment by sampling a few drops of blood from a newborn's heel. By limiting intake of phenylalanine and protein in general, affected infants could live and function normally. Newborn screening has changed a lot over the years. The Program in New York is the largest, most comprehensive free program in the United States. We now screen for 45 disorders and use sophisticated equipment. This discussion will start in the early 60's, bring us to current activities in Albany, and we will glimpse into the future as well. In addition, factors that have impacted newborn screening in recent years will be discussed.
12:00 pm Laszlo Z. Bito Auditorium - RKC

Cycle-Structure Invariant for Finite, Connected Quandles

Thursday, April 2, 2009A lecture byRobert McGrailLaboratory for Algebraic and Symbolic ComputationBard CollegeThe speaker introduces the notion of a quandle, an algebra that arises in knot theory and group theory, as well as the concept of connectedness in algebras. In particular, every finite, connected quandle has an unambiguous permutation cycle structure associated to it. This cycle-structure can be simply and efficiently computed from an operation table for the quandle, and so serves as a useful combinatorial invariant for the classification of finite, connected quandles. The speaker will introduce an improvement to the isofilter program of the Prover9/Mace4 automated deduction suite based upon this invariant. Moreover, he will discuss the implications of this work to the goal of completing a computational classification of the variety of finite quandles. This is joint work with Aleksandar Chakarov (Bard '10).

4:15 pm RKC 111

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, April 7, 2009
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Females & Fluoxetine: Sex differences in the effects of antidepressants on the brain and behavior

Thursday, April 9, 2009A lecture byGeorgia E. HodesUniversity of PennsylvaniaWomen are twice as likely as men to suffer an episode of depression, but only between puberty and menopause. This suggests a relationship between reproductive hormones and depression in females. However, most theories on the etiology of depression are based on research done solely in males. This talk will focus on current research examining sex differences in the effects of antidepressants on neurogenesis and depression associated behaviors using a rodent model. Additionally, this talk will examine how reproductive hormones influence cognitive function and the response to stress across the lifespan. The understanding of how males and females differ may lead to better treatments for depression in both sexes.

12:00 pm Laszlo Z. Bito Auditorium - RKC

Gender Participation and Performance in Science and Mathematics: The Ordinary Origins and Unintended Consequences of Attitudes and Stereotypes

Thursday, April 9, 2009A lecture byKristin LanePsychology programMany mental activities occur automatically or unconsciously, including thoughts that are relevant to social perception, judgment, and action. This talk will present interactive illustrations of mental events that exist outside of conscious awareness or control; I will then show evidence that suggests that these ordinary processes can give rise to systematic social biases, which in turn can influence participation, interest, and performance in science and math domains. In particular, the talk will consider the gender disparity in science and mathematics in light of these findings from the mind sciences.

4:15 pm RKC 111

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives

Thursday, April 16, 2009A lecture by David Sloan WilsonDirector, EvoS programBinghamton UniversityFor complex reasons, evolutionary theory was restricted to the biological sciences and avoided for most human-related subjects for most of the 20th century. That is now rapidly changing. The 21st century will witness an integration for the study of humanity comparable to the integration of the biological sciences that took place during the 20th century (and continuing). I will review current trends and how they are embodied in EvoS, a campus-wide evolutionary studies program at Binghamton University that has received NSF funding to expand into a nationwide consortium.

12:00 pm Laszlo Z. Bito Auditorium-RKC

How Hard is Static Program Analysis?

Thursday, April 16, 2009A lecture byHarry MairsonBrandeis University

Static program analysis is a form of predicting the future: it's what a compiler does to predict the behavior of your program, so that at run-time, the compiled version of your code runs faster or better.

Control flow analysis (CFA) is a canonical form of static program analysis performed by compilers, where the answers to questions like "can call site X ever call procedure P?" or "can procedure P ever be called with argument A?" are used to optimize procedure calls. In the interest of compile-time tractability, these questions are answered approximately, possibly including false positives. Much experimental work has been done on flow analysis. Here we describe, instead, some analytic characterizations of how hard CFA is.

Different versions of CFA are parameterized by their sensitivity to calling contexts. We show that the simplest version of CFA, called 0CFA, is complete for PTIME. In other words, it is as difficult to solve as any problem requiring polynomial time. A family of generalizations of 0CFA providing better analyses, called kCFA (k a positive integer), has never been implemented efficiently. We prove that this is necessary: the problem solved by kCFA is complete for EXPTIME---it is as difficult to solve as any problem requiring exponential time.

Each proof depends on fundamental insights about the linearity of programs, appealing to ideas from linear logic and the geometry of interaction---a linear logic semantics that is effectively an exact form of control-flow analysis.

This is joint work with David Van Horn (Brandeis University), presented at the 2008 ACM International Conference on Functional Programming.

4:15 pm RKC 111

Linear Stability of Simple Higher-Dimensional Dynamical System: The Role of Self-Adjointness and Non-Normality, with Examples from Ecology and Climate

Monday, April 20, 2009A lecture byGidon EshelPhysics programI will first review the concept of stability in the context of variance maintenance by dynamical systems, starting in 1-D and working our way to N-D. I will provide numerous examples, both analytic (i.e., with no physical relevance) and from physically realizable system such as the jet stream or Spotted Owl survival in response to conservation efforts. I will discuss two methods of obtaining dynamical system's governing linear operator: (1) using analytic linearization of non-linear operators (with the examples of mid-latitude perturbations on the jet, and the Lotka-Volterra equations of population dynamics; and (2) data-based (empirical) derivation using covariance of strobed states. I will then introduce normality (self-adjointness), discuss time-scales, and emphasize the distinction between asymptotic and transient stability. I will conclude with the complete solution of the stability problem, a solution comprising both eigen analysis (and thus asymptotic stability) and Singular value Decomposition of finite time propagators (addressing transient stability).

4:30 pm RKC 111

Science on the Edge "The Orbiting Carbon Observatory: Assessing carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere"

Tuesday, April 21, 2009A lecture byCatherine O'ReillyBiology programandSimeen SattarChemistry programIn February, NASA launched a rocket on a mission to deploy a new satellite. The rocket malfunctioned, sending the satellite, in development for the past 9 years and part of $273 million dollar system, into the ocean. The rocket was carrying the NASA's new Orbiting Carbon Observatory, a satellite intended to assess carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. The information from this satellite would have helped researchers understand the distribution of this greenhouse gas, providing data to improve climate models and insights into the 'missing carbon sink'.

6:00 pm RKC 111

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Forensic DNA Analysis: The Real CSI NY

Thursday, April 23, 2009A lecture byKathy CorradoDirector, Onondaga County Crime LabForensic DNA analysis is used extensively in criminal investigations to either associate or exonerate individuals from leaving their DNA at crime scenes. The Director of the Onondaga County Crime Lab in Syracuse NY will provide insight into the real life workings of a forensic DNA lab including the types of evidence typically encountered, current technologies being utilized in the field, the significance of DNA matches, and examples of interesting cases. The benefits and concerns of the use and expansion of forensic DNA databases will also be discussed.

12:00 pm Laszlo Z. Bito Auditorium-RKC

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, April 28, 2009
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

A Glimpse of Symplectic Geometry, via lots of pictures

Thursday, April 30, 2009A lecture byMegumi HaradaMcMaster UniversityThe motivation for symplectic geometry comes from classical physics, but the modern theory is related to many other areas of mathematics (not just physics) such as combinatorics, representation theory, topology, algebraic geometry, and many others. I will give a "mosaic" glimpse of this exciting field of research by briefly discussing the following inter-related topics, all of which appear (in one way or another) in my current work: 1) From classical physics to symplectic geometry: the magic of Hamiltonians;2) Horn's problem: how linear algebra and symplectic geometry yield polytopes and combinatorics;3) Getting topology out of a function: a bit of Morse theory;and finally, time permitting, I will say a few words about how the themes (1)--(3) come together in my current work on the study of the topology of hyperKahler Hamiltonian quotients.

4:15 pm RKC 111

Mathematics Senior Project Presentations

Tuesday, May 5, 2009Mona Merling4:15 p.m.

Ezra Winston4:40 p.m.

Dexin Zhou5:05 p.m.
4:15 pm RKC 111

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, May 5, 2009
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Biology Student lectures

Thursday, May 7, 2009Young Eun Choi"Developing a reversible and cell-specific system for inhibiting protein synthesis in C. elegans"

Senior Project Poster Session

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Why study single events in biology? Studies on the assembly of HIV, how cells secrete and the metastatis of tumor cells

Thursday, May 14, 2009A lecture bySandy SimonLaboratory of Cellular BiophysicsRockefeller UniversityMost studies in biology focus on the "averaged" behavior. Either the average behavior of a molecule (which we study by its biochemical activity), the average behavior of a cell (which we study by its physiology) or the average behavior of an individual (which we study by population dynamics). However, important lessons can be learned from studying single events. Examples will be given from our work on a number of projects ranging from studying single HIV viruses as they assemble, single vesicles as they are release by a cell to signal or internalized into a cell, single cells as they die and single tumor cells as they metastasize through the body.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Summer Research presentations

Friday, July 31, 2009Fish ConnectivityPreston Kemeny

Eels and Crayfish: Conclusions Through Shocking Field InvestigationsAidan Mabey

Chemistry search candidate lecture

A lecture byJordan KatzCandidate for the position in ChemistryThe reduction of Fe(III) is one of the most important chemical changes that takes place in the development of anaerobic soils and sediments, and the reductive dissolution of iron-bearing minerals by microbes plays a critical role in this process. Despite its importance in biogeochemistry, many questions remain about the mechanism of this electron transfer reaction, in part because the speed of the fundamental chemical steps renders them inaccessible to conventional study. Ultrafast time-resolved x-ray spectroscopy is a technique that can overcome this limitation and measure changes in oxidation state and structure occurring during chemical reactions that can be initiated by a fast laser pulse. We use this approach with ~100 ps resolution to monitor the speciation of Fe atoms in maghemite nanoparticles following photo-induced electron transfer from a surface-bound photoactive dye molecule.

4:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
ATTENTION ALL BIOLOGY STUDENTS!!!

pizza on the pod

A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students

tuesdaysRKC pod7 p.m.
7:00 pm RKC pods

How enteroviruses evade the innate immune response

Tropical Ecology Information Session

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Biology course for the spring semesterTropical EcologyProfessor Catherine O'ReillyTropical ecosystems are among the most biodiverse, most threatened, and the least studied in the world. This upper level course will examine both practical and theoretical aspects that are unique to tropical ecosystems, including the role of geology, biogeochemical cycling, evolutionary processes and species interactions. In addition, we will discuss issues related to conservation, such as habitat fragmentation and climate change. This course will include lectures, student presentations, and research projects. Students will design, conduct, synthesize, and present a field research project. The class will take a field trip to La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica over spring break to conduct research projects. The trip will incur additional course costs ($). The information session will describe the nature of the course and provide details regarding the field trip.Prerequisites: Moderation, Bio 202 Ecology and Evolution, Permission of the instructor.Application forms are required. Submission date is Friday, December 4th, to Megan Karcher (karcher@bard.edu). All Applicants will be informed by December 9th. Forms are posted outside Catherine O’Reilly’s office, RKC 213.

6:00 pm RKC 111

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
ATTENTION ALL BIOLOGY STUDENTS!!!

pizza on the pod

A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students

tuesdaysRKC pod7 p.m.
7:00 pm RKC pods

Pre-Health Professions 101: How to Prepare

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
A talk byProfessor John FergusonHealth Professions AdviserProfessor Ferguson will introduce the pathways leading to post-baccalaureate degrees in the health professions, including allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, optometry, etc. etc. The discussion will be tailored to the interests of the audience. If you are interested in a health profession, but have not attended a similar previous discussion, you should attend this one.
7:00 pm RKC 102

Biology Student Talks

Thursday, November 19, 2009Sarah Mount"A native species, the American eel (Anguilla rostrata), as a biological control for an invasive crayfish (Orconectes rusticus) in tributaries to the Hudson River, NY"

Science on the Edge lecture

Swapan Jainlecturing on the Chemistry prize Awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yonath"for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome"

Michael Tibbettslecturing on the Physiology or Medicine prize Awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak"for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase"

Pizza on the Pod

A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students

tuesdaysRKC pod7 p.m.
7:00 pm RKC pods

Biology Writing Fellows

Tuesday, January 26, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, January 26, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Biology Writing Fellows

Wednesday, January 27, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

Spring 2010 Biology Speaker Series Information Session

Thursday, January 28, 2010
Attend this information session to learn about the biology speaker series for Spring 2010, including the requirements for students registered for the course.Attendance is MANDATORY registered students
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Biology Writing Fellows

Tuesday, February 2, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, February 2, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Biology Writing Fellows

Wednesday, February 3, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

The Role of Fungal Seedling Pathogens on Temperate Forest Dynamics

Lab Training Session

Friday, February 5, 2010Attention all biology and chemistry students!!!Attendance at the Lab Training Session is required of all students working in the lab.

If you previously attended a lab training session, you do not need to attend again. If you are unsure, please contact Maureen O'Callaghan-Scholl at ocalla@bard.edu.
4:00 pm RKC 102

Biology Writing Fellows

Tuesday, February 9, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

CANCELED - The Women in our Lives: Lucy, Ardi and Human Evolution

Tuesday, February 9, 2010THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED.A re-schedule date will be announced A Science on the Edge lecture byWilliam MapleBiology programCharles Darwin, Thomas Huxley and hundreds of biologists, paleontologists and anthropologists throughout the 19th and 20th centuries confronted the question of human origins without adequate fossil evidence. The similarity of apes and humans was clear but the links were missing. Even as more fossil, anatomical and biochemical evidence illuminated ape-human relationships, the mystery remained of accounting for the evolution of typical hominid bipedal locomotion from the knuckle-walking and arboreal locomotion of the African apes. The last 100 years of hominid fossil discoveries gradually pushed the age of our ancestry back to as much as 3+ million years (Australopithecus), but all were terrestrial bipeds. The discovery in the Ethiopian Afar Rift region of fragments (including a partial female skeleton) of a hominid now known as Ardipithecus ramidus clearly (at least to some) suggests a species that moved with both ape-like climbing and human-like bipedality. Recovery of other fossil vertebrates, invertebrates and plants in the same site clarified the ecological habitat as patchy forest.

The elucidation of the place of Ardipithecus in hominid evolution was named breakthrough of the year by Science Magazine.

6:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, February 9, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Biology Writing Fellows

Wednesday, February 10, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Biology Writing Fellows

Tuesday, February 23, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Biology Writing Fellows

Wednesday, February 24, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

**CANCELED** Mechanisms of bacterial heavy metal homeostasis

Thursday, February 25, 2010A lecture bySylvia Franke McDevittSkidmore CollegeMany transition elements play as enzyme co-factors a major role in biological systems. However, at concentrations above the optimum, these metals are toxic. Therefore, all living systems have developed mechanisms to ensure uptake of sufficient amounts of these trace elements by also preventing excess amount from accumulating in the cell. In my lab we are looking at the toxic effects of copper and silver, two metals which have a history of usage as antimicrobial agents and the strategies Escherichia coli has developed to balance the amounts of metals in the cell.
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Biology Writing Fellows

Tuesday, March 2, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

Y Chromosome Evolution: Why?

Tuesday, March 2, 2010A Science on the Edge lecture byPhilip JohnsBiology programThe Y chromosome is the chromosome that determines the development of males in humans and most other mammals. It is a small chromosome with very few genes. Evolutionary biologists have hypothesized the causes of its "degenerate" evolution. One prediction of how Y chromosomes degenerate is that the genes on Y chromosomes should evolve slowly. In a recent study titled, "Chimpanzee and human Y chromosomes are remarkably divergent in structure and gene content", Jennifer Hughes and her colleagues at MIT found that, contrary to expectations, genes on the Y chromosome have evolved incredibly quickly since humans and chimps diverged. We will discuss recent human evolution, how scientists have used the Y chromosome to make startling discoveries about humans in the past, and what the implications are that the Y chromosome is evolving as quickly as it is.
6:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, March 2, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Biology Writing Fellows

Wednesday, March 3, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

"Million Murdering Death" and its Many Mates: The Evolution and Biogeography of Malaria Parasites

How the Turtle got its Shell: A case of evolutionary developmental biology

Ecological Developmental Biology

Thursday, March 11, 2010A lecture byScott F. GilbertSwarthmore CollegeAnimal development is usually studied in terms of gene expression from within the embryo. The environment is not seen as containing instructive signals for determining where, when, or if certain organs form. Recent studies, however, have shown that the environment plays an important role in the production of normal phenotypes, and that the independence of development form the environment is, in large part, an artifact of our model systems (all of which develop very well in the laboratory.) Embryos and juveniles alter their development in the presence of predators and conspecifics, and in numerous species, diet, temperature, and photoperiod also play key developmental roles. Moreover, symbiosis during development may be widespread and suggests that organisms often co-develop with other organisms. Seeing the environment as both instructive and selective has implications for development, evolution, conservation, biology, and medicine.Scott F. Gilbert is the Howard A. Schneiderman Professor of Biology at Swarthmore College, where he teaches developmental genetics, embryology, and the history and critiques of biology. He received his B.A. in both biology and religion from Wesleyan University, and his PhD in biology from the pediatric genetics laboratory at Johns Hopkins University, as well as his M.A. in the history of science. He has received several awards, including the Medal of François I from the Collège de France, the Dwight J. Ingle Memorial Writing Award, the Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award, an honorary doctorate from the University of Helsinki, and a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Grant. Scott Gilbert publishes extensively on evolution, development, and the history of science.
7:30 pm Campus Center, Multipurpose Room

Biology Writing Fellows

Tuesday, March 16, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, March 16, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Biology Writing Fellows

Wednesday, March 17, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

Biology Writing Fellows

Tuesday, March 23, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

Bard Summer Research Institute Summer 2010-Applications now being accepted

Tuesday, March 23, 2010 – Monday, March 29, 2010
The Bard Summer Research Institute supports campus based summer research by undergraduate students in empirical/quantitative fields - anthropology, biology, chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, physics, psychology, and sociology. Faculty propose research projects related to their own research that are appropriate for undergraduates participation and faculty act as mentors for the students. Each student selected to participate in BSRI receives a $2,500 stipend for the eight-week program. JUNE 7-JULY 30APPLICATION DEADLINE-Monday, March 29thStudents applications should be submitted via e-mail to Megan Karcher, karcher@bard.edu, using the attached form.
Reem-Kayden Center

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, March 23, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Biology Writing Fellows

Wednesday, March 24, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

Biology Writing Fellows

Tuesday, March 30, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, March 30, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Biology Writing Fellows

Wednesday, March 31, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Climate in the Currents of History

Thursday, April 22, 2010
A lecture byMark A. CaneG. Unger Vetlesen Professor of Earth and Climate SciencesProfessor of Applied Mathematics and Applied PhysicsColumbia UniversityIn this talk, we will take a tour of some of the impacts of climate variations on human history, beginning with the origins of agriculture in the Middle East. We will consider historical droughts in North America, especially the Dustbowl drought of the 1930s, and then examine the analogous but more severe droughts some seven centuries earlier and their possible role in the demise of the Anasazi. Ideas about the physical climate mechanisms responsible for these droughts will be presented. We will consider the modern and ongoing drought in the Sahel region of northern Africa, and its impact on Darfur, before taking up the projections of drought in the warming world ahead of us. Mark Cane is the G. Unger Vetlesen Professor of Earth and Climate Sciences in Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics at Columbia University, where he also holds joint appointment in the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) and serves as a member of the IRI's International Science and Technical Advisory Committee. With his colleague Dr. Stephen Zebiak, Mark devised the first numerical model able to simulate El Niño and the Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a pattern of interannual climate variability centered in the tropical Pacific but with global consequences. His current research is focused on the variations in the paleoclimate record, especially abrupt changes, and on the impact of climate variability on human activities, especially agriculture and health.

7:30 pm Campus Center, Multipurpose Room

The Mid-Hudson American Chemical Society 2010 Undergraduate Chemistry Research Symposium

Friday, April 23, 2010CONFERENCE PROGRAM

Poster Session3:30-5:00 p.m.RKC lobby

Keynote address 5:30 p.m.Campus Center Multipurpose Room

"Advances in Carbon-Hydrogen Bond Activation"Dr. Richard PuddephattThe University of Western Ontario

The activation of the carbon-hydrogen bonds in alkanes and arenes by transition metal complexes is an important topic in chemistry. It has potential to contribute to energy efficiency, for example by catalytic conversion of methane to methanol, or to green synthesis, for example in carbon-carbon coupling reactions. This talk will give an overview of current research, especially using organoplatinum compounds for C-H bond activation.

3:30 pm Reem-Kayden Center

Biology Writing Fellows

Tuesday, April 27, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, April 27, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Biology Writing Fellows

Wednesday, April 28, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

STUDENT TALKS

Thursday, April 29, 2010Jyoti Dev"Co-localization and interaction of a retroviral Gag protein with cellular Caveolin-1 protein"

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, May 11, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.

7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Biology Writing Fellows

Wednesday, May 12, 2010Drop-in hours for help with any biology course writing

Hannah LiddyTuesdays7-8 p.m.

Sam IsraelWednesdays6-7 p.m.
RKC pods

Dogs in (Morpho) Space: Evolution of Phylogenetically Novel Crania

Monday, May 17, 2010A lecture byAbby DrakeCollege of the Holy CrossCandidate for the visition position in biologyProponents of Intelligent Design claim that the boundaries between species are impassable. They assert that the patterns of diversity we observe on macroevolutionary scales can not by produced microevolutionary processes. Indeed, it is often difficult to provide evidence to the contrary because evolution happens on such a large time scale. Using three-dimensional shape analysis of canid cranial morphology I will discuss intraspecific variation, macroevolution, hopeful monsters and phylogenetic novelty. Has the evidence been lying at our very feet (and bringing us our slippers)?
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Tracking Species Declines and Restoring Species Diversity on a Rapidly Changing Planet

Tuesday, May 18, 2010A lecture byCathy CollinsWashington University-St. LouisCandidate for the visiting position in biologyIn what ways do anthropogenic changes influence species abundances at local and global scales? How can we use this knowledge to restore ecological communities and ecosystem function? These questions guide my research as I seek to understand how landscape connectivity influences species declines and ultimately, restoration success. I will introduce a new tool, Rank Occupancy-Abundance Profiles (ROAPs), which I’ve used to quantify changes in species’ abundances and characterize extinction trajectories in plants and birds. My results from studying species declines emphasize the importance of large-scale dynamics (e.g. metapopulation structure) for maintaining local populations. Restoration experiments rarely consider effects of landscape context and regional dynamics on restoration success; I’ll present my current research, which aims to address this gap in knowledge.
12:00 pm RKC 102

Going with the Flow: Ecology and Genetics of the Rusty Crayfish Invasion in Lakes and Streams

Friday, May 21, 2010A lecture byBill PerryIllinois State Universitycandidate for the visiting position in biologyThe biodiversity North American streams and lakes are among the greatest of any continent, but are also among the most threatened. Over 70% of the mussels, 50% of the crayfishes, and 40% of the fishes are vulnerable to extinction. Eurasian species introductions including zebra mussels, snakehead, Asian carp, Didymo (algae), and mitten crabs pose a serious and permanent threat to this biodiversity. These introductions often overshadow the risk posed by species moved from one region to another within North America. These intracontinental invasions may pose equally significant threats to resident species through similar ecological mechanisms including competition and predation. Hybridization with conspecifics, however, poses an additional threat associated with these invasions that is often overlooked. The invasion of rusty crayfish (Orconectes rustics) from the Ohio area to many eastern North American lakes has led to the local extinction of resident species through a combination of ecological and genetic mechanisms. Invasions in streams, however, appear to be controlled by the effects of flow, which alters ecological interactions and hybridization patterns between the species. This model system is useful in illustrating the mechanisms of invasions and the threats posed by these introductions.
12:00 pm RKC 111

Summer Math/Science Seminar - The Need for Double-Sampling Designs in Survival Studies: An Evaluation of PEPFAR

Wednesday, July 7, 2010
A talk by Ming-Wen AnVassar CollegeIn 2007, there were 33 million people around the world living with HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). In May 2003, the U.S. President announced a global program, known as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to address this epidemic. We seek to estimate patient mortality in PEPFAR in an eﬀort to monitor and evaluate this program. This eﬀort, however, is thwarted by loss to follow-up that occurs at very high rates. As a consequence, standard survival data and analysis on observed non-dropout data is generally biased, and provide no objective evidence to correct the potential bias. We develop and apply double-sampling designs and methodology to estimate mortality in PEPFAR. In this talk, we show that the estimate of yearly mortality based on our methods is substantially better than the estimate based on standard methods; and we examine proﬁles of lost to follow-up individuals whom researchers should target for double-sampling.Reception at 4 p.m.Talk begins at 4:30 p.m.

4:00 pm RKC 111

Pre-Health Professions 101: How to Prepare

Thursday, August 19, 2010
An information session led by Professor John FergusonProfessor Ferguson will introduce the pathways leading to post-baccalaureate degrees in the health professions, including allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, optometry, etc. etc. The discussion will be tailored to the interests of the audience. If you are interested in a health profession, but have not attended a similar previous discussion, you should attend this one.

4:00 pm RKC 102

Science, Mathematics & Computing Division Ice Cream Social

Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Come to the Science, Mathematics & Computing DivisionICE CREAM SOCIALStop by to ask questions about courses being offered or find out more about majoring in the programs. Faculty members from each program will be there to answer questions.
4:30 pm RKC lobby

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, August 31, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your biology classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!
7:00 pm RKC pods

Biology seminar Information Session

Thursday, September 2, 2010
Attend this information session to learn about the biology seminar speaker serires for Fall 2010, including requirements for students registered for the course.Attendance is MANDATORY for registered students
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, September 7, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your biology classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!
7:00 pm RKC pods

North American Songbirds and the Eco-epidemiology of Lyme Disease

Lab Training Session

Friday, September 10, 2010**REQUIRED OF ALL STUDENTS WORKING OR DOING RESEARCH IN THE LAB**If you previously attended a lab training session, you do not need to attend again. If you are unsure, please contact Maureen O'Callaghan-Scholl with questions at ocalla@bard.edu
4:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, September 14, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your biology classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!
7:00 pm RKC pods

Biology Club

Wednesday, September 15, 2010Love biology? Whether or not you're a biology major or science student, you should join Bard's new Biology Club!Biology Club will unite those interested in biology to host fundraisers, go on field trips, connect with research opportunities, and volunteer. At our first meeting, we'll be discussing what we'd like to pursue the most this year, such as what to raise money for or where to volunteer. Come share your ideas!

Monitoring T Cell Responses to Bacterial Pathogens

INFORMATION SESSION-Animal Behavior course

Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Biology course for spring semesterAnimal BehaviorProfessor Philip Johns Philip Johns will hold an information session for his Animal Behavior course, Spring 2011. The course is scheduled to include a 10-day jaunt to the US Virgin Islands over January to watch animal behavior in the field. Please attend the information session if you are considering this course.

6:30 pm RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, October 5, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your biology classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!
7:00 pm RKC pods

Tuesday, October 19, 2010
A lecture byPhilip JohnsBiology ProgramOne of the most elegant ideas in evolution is the notion that organisms cooperate with relatives because relatives share genes. Mutations that lead to relatives cooperating can spread through populations even if the altruistic individuals do not themselves leave offspring. This process is called kin selection. It is difficult to overstate how influential this idea has been over the last half century. But in the last 15 years modern genetics revealed that some of the most impressive examples of animal cooperation -- eusocial insects with sterile working castes -- involve animals that are not necessarily closely related. In fact, in some groups, cooperating animals may be unrelated. In August, Martin Nowak, Corina Tarnita, and Edward Wilson published a model explaining how relatedness, per se, is not necessary for the evolution of eusociality. This paper is enormously controversial. Fifty prominent scientists have reportedly signed a letter protesting its publication in Nature. In this talk, we discuss the elements of the model and why it is so controversial.

5:30 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, October 19, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your biology classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!
7:00 pm RKC pods

Biology Club Meeting

Wednesday, October 20, 2010Need a change of scenery?

Come to the Biology Club meeting!

We'll be discussin two upcoming field trips - a canoe trip and an aquarium trip, as well as a special Halloween fundraising idea.

7:00 pm RKC pods

The Thirty Year Blues: What We Know, and Don't, about Life History, Group Size and Group Fission in Kenyan Blue Monkeys

Barefoot Through the Amazon: On the Path of Evolution

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, October 26, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your biology classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!
7:00 pm RKC pods

A Vitamin Treatment for Blindness

Thursday, October 28, 2010
A lecture byIlyas WashingtonColumbia UniversityAge-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and Stargardt’s disease - also known as juvenile AMD - are the leading causes of worldwide untreatable blindness. This talk will discuss our attempt to better understand the pathways that lead to blindness in AMD and Stargardt’s and our efforts to prevent vision loss from these debilitating diseases.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, November 2, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your biology classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!
7:00 pm RKC pods

Science on the Edge-The 2010 Nobel Prizes

Tuesday, November 9, 2010ChemistryMaking the Connections – The 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Palladium Catalyzed Carbon-Carbon Coupling The formation of carbon-carbon bonds has been a challenge that, for many years, only nature has been able to accomplish effectively. With the ability to assemble carbon-containing molecules into more complex structures, a multitude of new materials and biologically active compounds can be prepared. This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki for their development of and contributions toward the field of transition-metal promoted reactions to create new carbon-carbon bonds.Lecture by Emily McLaughlinChemistry Program Physics“for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene” Awarded to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics for “producing, identifying and characterizing graphene”, a sheet of carbon atoms arranged in hexagons. Since Geim and Novoselov revealed their absurdly simple method for making graphene in 2004, thousands of papers about this material have been published. Graphene’s two-dimensionality gives rise to unusual properties of fundamental and practical interest, including its electrical conductivity, strength and flexibility. In this talk, we’ll take a look at how graphene was made and characterized and some of its significant properties.Lecture by Simeen SattarPhysics Program

Tuesday, November 9, 2010
If you are interested in an opportunity to spend a semester at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute as part of a Semester in Environmental Science Program, an information session will be held on the second floor of RKC outside the faculty offices.Stephanie Oleksyk will be on campus from that program to describe it and answer any questions you might have.Woods Hole Semester in Environmental ScienceNovember 9 at 7:00 PM Plunge into this full-immersion science experience and spend over 20 hours every week working in the field and in the lab facilities at the world renowned Marine Biological Laboratory. The Semester in Environmental Science (SES) is a full semester of course credit taught by a faculty of researchers who are among ecology’s top scientists. Students examine global environmental problems within the context of local ecosystems. Through a set of well-integrated field and laboratory exercises, students compare the structure and function of ecosystems across the estuaries, ponds, freshwater wetlands, salt marshes and forests of Cape Cod. Students learn cutting edge techniques that are crucial to current environmental research. In addition to the coursework, SES offers another very unique opportunity to undergrads: students are given the entire final third of the semester to utilize the resources of the laboratory to complete a project of their own design. The research skills and professional connections that students acquire during their semester in Woods Hole are invaluable- 20% of SES students return to Woods Hole as employees! Join us to find out more from a SES alum! Contact: ses@mbl.eduhttp://ecosystems.mbl.edu/SES/
7:00 pm RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, November 9, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your biology classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!
7:00 pm RKC pods

PREDATORY BACTERIA: From Basic Research to Application

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, November 16, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your biology classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!
7:00 pm RKC pods

Operation Wallacea Information Session

Wednesday, November 17, 2010
In an effort to raise awareness about our programs, Operation Wallacea is giving a presentation at Bard College on Wednesday, November 17th at 12:00pm in Reem and Kayden Center for Science and Computation Room 103. The presentation has been coordinated through Dr. William Maple in Environmental Studies. The meeting will cover international biological and social science expedition projects, as well as tropical research programs presented by Dr. Caine Delacy.
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

From Traits to Landscapes: Using Species Traits to Predict the Effects of Global Changes on Species Abundances

Science on the Edge-Synthetic Biology: Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome

Thursday, November 18, 2010
A lecture byJohn FergusonBiology ProgramIn July J. Craig Venter and his colleagues at the J. Craig Venter Institute announced the creation of a "synthetic cell" whose 1.08–mega–base pair genome was created from digitized genome sequence data. This was the first report of a viable cell created with a completely chemically-synthesized genome, although previous investigators had constructed functional viral particles from a chemically-synthesized genome. We will see how Venter's latest achievement fits in with his previous work and his future ambitions for "synthetic biology.”

7:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, November 23, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your biology classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!
7:00 pm RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, November 30, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your biology classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!
7:00 pm RKC pods

PoP Topic: Summer Research Opportunities

Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Pizza on the Pod TopicThis mini-session will cover places to look for summer internships, how to write a cover letter, what should be in your resume, etc. Hosted by Catherine O'Reilly and John Ferguson.

6:30 pm RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, December 7, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your biology classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!
7:00 pm RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, December 14, 2010
A chance to do homework, get help with your biology classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!
7:00 pm RKC pods

Journalism and Science

Saturday, January 8, 2011
Chris Mooney is a science and political journalist and the author of three books: The Republican War on Science, Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics and the Battle Over Global Warming, and most recently, Unscientific America. He is the senior correspondent for The American Prospect and a contributing editor for Science Progess. He is also the co-writer of "The Intersection" blog for Discover which was the recipient of Scientific American's 2005 Science and Technology web award. He is one of the new hosts of the Point of Inquiry podcast**All first-year students are required to attend this lecture**
7:00 pm Fisher Center, Sosnoff Theater

New York's Coyote/Coydog/Coywolf--What Is It and How Did It Get Here?

How Bacteria Talk to Each Other

Monday, January 10, 2011
Bonnie Bassler is a professor of Molecular Biology at Princeton University and the President of the American Society for Microbiology. She is also a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms for bacteria use for intercellular communication, a process called quorum sensing. Her research opens up the possibility for new strategies for combating important world health problems.**All first-year students are required to attend this lecture**
3:30 pm Fisher Center, Sosnoff Theater

Find TB to Stop TB: How Science Can Improve Global Policy to Curtail the TB/HIV Syndemic

Thursday, January 13, 2011
Chad Heilig earned his BA in mathematics from the University of Florida and his Ph.D. in statistics from the University of California, Berkeley. He began working at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1997, where he has worked in the areas of reproductive health, science administration and tuberculosis (TB). He currently serves as the lead methodologst for the CDC-supported, international Tuberculosis Trials Consortium.
7:00 pm Campus Center, Multipurpose Room

The Fruits of the Genome Sequences for Society

Sunday, January 16, 2011
David Botstein has been the director of the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton since 2003. He has made fundamental contributions to the field of modern genetics, including the discovery of many yeast and bacterial genes. In 1980, he and three colleagues proposed a method for mapping genes that laid the groundwork for the Human Genome Project. He has been awarded many prestigious awards in the Genetics and Microbiology fields including the 2010 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical research.**All first-year students are required to attend this lecture**
2:00 pm Fisher Center, Sosnoff Theater

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, January 25, 2011
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students

TUESDAYSRKC pod 2227 p.m.
7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Spring 2011 Seminar Series Information Session

Thursday, January 27, 2011
Attend this information session to learn about the biology speakers series for Spring 2011, including the requirements for students registered for the course.

New York's Coyote/Coydog/Coywolf--What Is It and How Did It Get Here?

Biology Club Meeting

Friday, February 11, 2011First meeting of the semester!

The Biology Club will have its first meeting on Friday, February 11 at 5 p.m. on the pods. We will be discussing activities for the upcoming semester, including field trips to the Bodies Exhibit and a canoe tour of the Hudson River.
5:00 pm RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, February 15, 2011
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students

TUESDAYSRKC pod 2227 p.m.
7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Fishing for Answers: Using Zebrafish Genetics to Understand the Making of a Vertebrate Brain

Asymmetric Cell Division: A Tale of Two Centrosomes

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, February 22, 2011
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students

TUESDAYSRKC pod 2227 p.m.
7:00 pm RKC pod 222

PoP topic: Moderating into Biology?

Tuesday, February 22, 2011
This PoP Topic will give you an overview of how moderation into biology works. It includes what to put in your moderation papers, the biology moderation paper, how to form a moderation board, where to turn in your papers, how to schedule your moderation, and what will happen during the moderation meeting. Hosted by Brooke and Catherine.

Biogeographic Patterns of South American Reptiles

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, March 1, 2011
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students

TUESDAYSRKC pod 2227 p.m.
7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Distinguished Scientist Scholar Award: Guidelines and Application

Thursday, March 3, 2011 – Wednesday, March 30, 2011
All current students concentrating in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics or physics are eligible to apply for a Distinguished Scientist Scholar (DSS) Award. These awards are given to exceptional students who have distinguished themselves academically in one of the disciplines in the division of Science, Mathematics and Computing. Please note that this is a very competitive process and only a few awards will be given out each year. To apply for a DSS award (commencing in the fall), a student must meet the following eligibility criteria: o Concentrating in one of the programs in the SM&C Division (Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics or Physics). o Not currently receiving a DSS scholarship or award.o Cumulative GPA of 3.0 overall in the college. o Cumulative GPA of 3.5 in courses in the SM&C Division.

For complete application guidelines, please see the attached document.

Carbon and Climate: An Essential Focus of Environmental Literacy

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, March 8, 2011
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students

TUESDAYSRKC pod 2227 p.m.
7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Animal Behavior Poster Session

Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Join the Animal Behavior students as they present their research from their trip to the Virgin Islands Environmental Research Station on Saint John, USVI during Winter Break. Topics include everything from termites to spiders to lizards to birds.

So you want to be an M.D.? The Trials and Tribulations of a Surgical Specialist in Today's Society

Thursday, April 7, 2011A lecture byDr. Donald Krawitt, M.D., F.A.C.S.

7:00 pm RKC 102

Biology Search Candidate Lecture: Signatures of Selection in the Yeast and Nematode Genomes

Tuesday, April 12, 2011Joshua Shapirocandidate for the visiting postition in BiologyPatterns of genetic diversity are a powerful tool for examining the evolutionary history of a species. I have used genome-wide data from global populations to examine the roles of population structure and natural selection in the evolution of S. cerevisiae and C. elegans. While yeast diversity is primarily defined by population structure and purifying selection, the C. elegans population shows evidence of multiple recent, strong selective sweeps.
12:30 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, April 12, 2011
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students

TUESDAYSRKC pod 2227 p.m.
7:00 pm RKC pod 222

PoP Topic: Senior Project in Biology?

Tuesday, April 12, 2011Pizza on the Pod TopicThis PoP Topic will help you get started thinking about a senior project in biology. It includes how to figure out what you want to do, finding a good project idea, and getting an adviser - all important things you need to do before registration. Hosted by Philip and Felicia.
7:30 pm RKC pods

Tuesday, April 19, 2011Matthew Dugascandidate for the visiting position in Biology

Offspring solicitations are often hypothesized to provide parents with information about the potential fitness returns that offspring offer. While these solicitations are widely interpreted as signals of need that allow parents to direct resources to offspring in the poorest condition, a competing hypothesis suggests that offspring displays instead signal the high quality of individuals. I will argue that offspring traits signaling high reproductive value make sense in the context of avian life history, and that nestling mouth coloration may be one such signal of quality.

12:30 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, April 19, 2011
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students

Biology Search Candidate Lecture: Forest Recovery on Former Farmland

Friday, April 22, 2011Kathryn Flinncandidate for the position in Biology

Over the past 200 years, the clearance of forests for agriculture and the recovery of forests on abandoned fields have transformed patterns of biodiversity across much of Europe and eastern North America. This talk will examine both the patterns and processes of community recovery on former farmland. Investigating species' responses to this disturbance provides a unique opportunity to understand the mechanisms of community assembly. At the same time, it allows us to assess the potential of recovering lands for the restoration of biodiversity.

12:30 pm RKC 102

Biology Search Candidate Lecture: Food, Feuds, and the Role of Stress Responses in the Behavioral Ecology of African Monkeys

Tuesday, April 26, 2011Steffen Foerstercandidate for the position in Biology

Behavior plays a crucial part in animal adaptations. Which aspects of behavioral variation are adaptive and why, however, is often not well understood because fitness consequences are difficult to measure. This is particularly true for long-lived, slowly reproducing animals like primates. In this talk, I summarize my research on African forest monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis), in which I investigated how physiological stress responses - a potential fitness correlate - can help us understand central topics in primate behavioral ecology. I will outline some of the unique challenges associated with the noninvasive study of stress hormonal variation, and highlight the importance of distinguishing between different causes of stress responses (e.g., food versus feuds) when using hormonal measures to gain insights into the adaptive value of behavioral and reproductive strategies.
12:30 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students

TUESDAYSRKC pod 2227 p.m.
7:00 pm RKC pod 222

Biology Search Candidate lecture: Vocal and Social Complexity in Mammals

Wednesday, April 27, 2011Kirsten Bohncandidate for the visiting position in Biology

Vocal and social complexity are inextricably linked and key factors in human evolution. Using mammalian models will shed light on our understanding of the evolution of cooperation, language and our own exceedingly complex societies. However, despite a great deal of research, the evolution of mammalian vocal complexity, particularly human speech remains poorly understood and controversial. Birdsong is a prominent model for language because of its complexity and flexibility- it has variable syntax, hierarchical organization and is vocally learned. This is in part because most mammals, other than humans, produce relatively invariant, innate vocalizations that do not require auditory feedback or incorporate different types of sounds in specific orders (syntax). Consequently, virtually nothing is known about the function, evolution, or production of mammalian vocal syntax. Here I present an exciting new mammalian model, Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) that use hierarchically structured songs that parallel those of birds and cetaceans. I qualitatively and quantitatively describe the production and perception of free-tailed bats’ songs and behaviors associated with singing. Finally, I present research on social complexity by examining cooperation in the form of “pup guarding” in a species that resides in highly structured “societies”.
12:30 pm RKC 102

Students Talks

Thursday, April 28, 2011Robert Kittler"The Effects of Heavy Metal Pollution on the Morphology and Behavior of Blacklegged Ticks (Ixodes scapularis)"

MD/PhD: Is it Right for Me?

Saturday, April 30, 2011Dr. Robert Levenson, Ph.D.Dr. Levenson received an A.B. from Bard College in 1967, an M.S. from New York University in 1971, and a Ph.D. from SUNY Stony Brook in 1976. Dr. Levenson did postdoctoral work in cancer cell biology at MIT with Dr. David Housman. In 1984 he was appointed Assistant Professor of Cell Biology at Yale University School of Medicine. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1990 and received a joint appointment in the Section of Neurobiology. Dr. Levenson joined the faculty of Penn State College of Medicine in 1994 as Professor of Pharmacology. He has been a member of the MD/PhD Steering Committee since then. Dr. Levenson’s research has focused on the molecular regulation of dopamine signaling and the etiology of schizophrenia. Recently, his lab has been utilizing zebrafish as a model system to study brain disorders as well as the regulation of inner ear development. Dr. Levenson is currently a senior member of the Yale Center for Neuroscience Research of Mental Disorders.

3:00 pm RKC 102

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, May 3, 2011
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students

Hudson Valley Life Science Spring 2011 Symposium

Monday, May 9, 2011
The HVLSG is a consortium of colleges in the Hudson Valley, and the HVLSG Symposium is an opportunity for undergraduate students at Hudson Valley Colleges to showcase their recent independent, directed, summer, and senior thesis research. Bard welcomes students of biology and other fields related to the life sciences to participate. We will have a plenary speaker, and students will present posters. This is an excellent chance for undergraduates to interact with their peers in the Hudson Valley and compare their research experiences and results.5:00-6:00 p.m.Participants arrive to set up posters

Biology Search Candidate Lecture: The Role of Body Size in Crustacean Ecology and Evolution

Tuesday, May 10, 2011
A lecture byKristin Hultgrencandidate for the visiting position in BiologySome of the most fundamental questions in biology revolve around the origins and maintenance of diversity in ecological communities. My research integrates ecological and phylogenetic approaches to study the evolution of adaptive traits in crustaceans—in particular, the evolution of body size and defensive strategies—and their role in structuring communities. I will talk about my research on two crustacean groups: the majoid (decorator) crabs, and tropical sponge-dwelling snapping shrimp.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, May 10, 2011
A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students

Pre-Health Professions 101: How to Prepare

Friday, August 12, 2011Professor John FergusonHealth Professions Adviser, Bard CollegeProfessor Ferguson will introduce the pathways leading to post-baccalaureate degrees in the health professions, including allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, optometry, etc. etc. The discussion will be tailored to the interests of the audience. If you are interested in a health profession, but have not attended a similar previous discussion, you should attend this one.

4:00 pm RKC 102

Ice Cream Social

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

4:30 pm RKC lobby

New Biology course offering: Forest Ecology

Sunday, August 28, 2011
There is a new 300-level ecology course being offered this fall: Forest Ecology, BIO 313. See below for course information and description. If you are interested in registering for this course, please contact Professor Eric Keeling at ekeeling@bard.edu.

This course will examine the composition, function, biodiversity, and dynamics of forests as ecological systems. We will investigate the abiotic and biotic factors that determine the distribution and interactions of species within forests, the dynamics of forest communities over time, and important ecosystem processes such as the cycling of carbon, water, and nutrients. Using local forests as study systems, students will acquire skills in field measurements, methods, observations and data analysis and learn how to integrate ecological theory with discoveries and observations made in the field. We will use this ecological foundation to build an understanding of factors affecting the diversity of forest communities across regional and continental scales and examine the role of forests in the global ecosystem including the importance of forests to human societies. Prerequisite: moderated biology student and permission of the instructor.

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, August 30, 2011Attention Biology Students!!

Pizza on the PodA chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!!

Every Tuesday
7:00 pm RKC pods

Biology Seminar Series Fall 2011: Information Session

Thursday, September 1, 2011
Attend this information session to learn about the biology speaker series for Fall 2011, including the requirements for students registered for the course.ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY FOR REGISTERED STUDENTS
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, September 6, 2011Attention Biology Students!!

Pizza on the PodA chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!!

Every Tuesday
7:00 pm RKC pods

Lab Safety Training

Thursday, September 8, 2011 – Wednesday, September 21, 2011REQUIRED OF ALL STUDENTS WORKING OR DOING RESEARCH IN THE LAB

If you previously attended a lab training session, you do not need to attend again. If you are unsure, please contact Dwane Decker with questions at decker@bard.eduThursday, September 8 10:30 a.m.Friday, September 16 1:30 p.m.Wednesday, September 21 5:00 p.m.

Thursday, October 13, 2011
A lecture byKerri-Ann Norton, '04Department of BioMedical EngineeringJohns Hopkins School of MedicineBreast cancer is one if the leading causes of cancer deaths in women. While breast cancer is a dynamic disease that may change morphology (shape) over time and depending on its placement within the tissue, diagnosis of the disease is usually accomplished by examining 2D slices of stained breast tissue and assigning the sample a grade and morphology. Unfortunately, the correlation between grade (a way of evaluating how irregular the nuclei look) and patient outcome is poor, depends on details of the classification method used, and is complicated by the frequent presence of multiple morphologies within a single sample. Here, I show two examples of how using mathematical biology provides insights intothe mechanisms that drive the disease and provides possible explanations for the difficulties in correlating morphology with patient outcome. Specifically, I use mathematical modeling techniques to study the progression of breast cancer over time under different cellular conditions and I use image processing to visualize the 3D morphology of breast cancer as compared to corresponding 2D slices. I find that differences in breast cancer morphology can result from different cancers with different cellular features or from cancers with the same cellular features at different time-points. I also find that early breast cancers with similar morphologies in 2D exhibit very different 3D morphologies. This work demonstrates the benefits of using mathematical and computational tools for studying cancer.
4:45 pm RKC 111

Biology Tutoring

Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Drop-in hours for help with any biology coursework.Contact Shellie Ann Dick (sd458@bard.edu) or Cara Black (cb6473@bard.edu) for more information.

Tuesdays6-10 p.m.
6:00 pm RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, October 18, 2011Attention Biology Students!!

Pizza on the PodA chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!!

Every Tuesday
7:00 pm RKC pods

How Does the Fly Know It's Been 25 Minutes? Neurons Controlling Copulation in Drosophila Melanogaster

Biology Tutoring

Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Drop-in hours for help with any biology coursework.Contact Shellie Ann Dick (sd458@bard.edu) or Cara Black (cb6473@bard.edu) for more information.

Tuesdays6-10 p.m.
6:00 pm RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, October 25, 2011Attention Biology Students!!

Pizza on the PodA chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!!

Every Tuesday
7:00 pm RKC pods

What Flies Can Tell Us About Neuronal Degeneration

Thursday, October 27, 2011
A lecture byAdam HabermanCandidate for the position in Biology

Neurodegenerative diseases afflict a growing number of people every year. These progressive diseases begin in mid-life to old age, slowly degrading memories and abilities gained over a lifetime. Our research attempts to understand the cellular basis of these diseases, especially Alzheimer Disease. However, instead of asking why neurons break down, we ask how they live as long as they do. We use the photoreceptor neurons of fruit flies as a model system to identify the specialized mechanisms that help neurons to survive for a lifetime. Recently, we identified a neuron-specific endosomal regulator that is essential for both synaptic signaling and neuronal maintenance.
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Flowering Across the Seasons: Lagging Adaptation and the Timing of Reproduction Under Changing Climates

Tuesday, November 1, 2011
A lecture byAmity WilczekCandidate for the position in BiologyWe are living in a time of radical, directional climate change. The timing of leafing out in deciduous forests, onset of different pollen seasons, date of first and last frost, bloom time of showy wildflowers, timing of migration of songbirds and butterflies and bird nesting are all undergoing rapid and obvious shifts detectable on the scale of a human lifetime. If environmental change outpaces the rate of adaptation, populations and species may decline or disappear. Ecological studies that probe the mechanisms of response to climate, as well as the means by which species adapt to climate, may provide us with tools for predicting and mitigating the effects of rapid climate change. To address these questions, colleagues and I have been studying the genetic architecture of seasonal response and adaptation to climate in Arabidopsis thaliana, a cosmopolitan inbreeding annual plant. Using data from a set of European common garden experiments spanning the native climate range (from Mediterranean to sub-Arctic), we developed an environmentally-driven model of development that explained most geographic and seasonal variation in the timing of flowering. Using a panel of natural accessions drawn from throughout A. thaliana’s native range, we also found evidence for adaptation to climate at the whole-organism as well as the gene scale. Furthermore, we find evidence that A. thaliana populations appear to be lagging behind shifting local temperature optima such that migrants from warmer climates are actually better adapted to current conditions than local genotypes. A synthetic approach to understanding adaptation to climate, focusing on the interplay between genes and environment in determining species ecology, may therefore be important for conservation and management efforts under changing climates.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011Celebrating the International Year of Chemistry

A lecture byDavit ZargarianDepartment of ChimieUniversite de MontrealPincer complexes based on tertiary amine or phosphine ligands are easy to synthesize and handle, robust in ambient atmosphere, and fairly stable at high temperatures. Moreover, certain P- or N-based pincer complexes are excellent pre-catalysts while others are known to promote unusual stoichiometric reactivities. Professor Zargarian’s group studies the chemistry of pincer-type nickel complexes featuring tertiary phosphine, phosphinite, or amine moieties, including the catalytic effectiveness of these compounds in hydroamination and hydroalkoxylation of acrylonitrile derivatives, Corriu-Kumada type coupling, and Kharasch additions. Recent investigations have focused on the chemistry of POCN-Ni complexes based on secondary amine ligands and the dimeric complexes derived from them. This presentation will describe the redox chemistry and reactivities of various pincer-type complexes studied in Dr. Zargarian’s research group.

4:45 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Biology Tutoring

Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Drop-in hours for help with any biology coursework.Contact Shellie Ann Dick (sd458@bard.edu) or Cara Black (cb6473@bard.edu) for more information.

Tuesdays6-10 p.m.
6:00 pm RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, November 1, 2011Attention Biology Students!!

Pizza on the PodA chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!!

Every Tuesday
7:00 pm RKC pods

The Birds and the Bees: Investing the Role of WEE-1.3 in C. elegans Oocyte Maturation

Thursday, November 3, 2011
A lecture byAnna AllenCandidate for the position in BiologyMeiosis is a specialized cell cycle by which the haploid gametes (oocytes and sperm) are produced. It is of crucial importance not only to successful sexual reproduction, but also to human health, as defects during the meiotic divisions have serious deleterious outcomes such as infertility, spontaneous miscarriages, birth defects, and tumorigenesis. I utilize the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to study two specific aspects of meiosis, oocyte meiotic arrest and oocyte maturation. Previous work has shown that depletion of the C. elegans gene wee-1.3 (a Wee1/Myt1 ortholog that acts as an inhibitory kinase of the meiotic cell cycle) via RNA interference results in animals that exhibit precocious oocyte maturation and a very penetrant infertility phenotype. I have further investigated the function of WEE-1.3 during oocyte maturation in C. elegans and characterized in more detail the precocious oocyte maturation phenotype. This data shows that WEE-1.3 depletion results in early gene activation of embryonic gene transcripts in the germline that are not normally expressed until after the oocyte-to-embryo transition. Finally, I performed an RNA interference (RNAi) suppressor screen to identify suppressors of the infertility phenotype of WEE-1.3-depleted animals. This resulted in the identification of 150 genes that are potentially novel regulators and substrates of WEE-1.3 and thus the cell cycle. I am currently studying the mechanism of how one suppressor, ETR-1, is acting and my data supports a novel role for ETR-1 in germline development and/or function. The strength of all these approaches is its potentiality for identifying novel components of both the cell cycle and oocyte meiotic maturation. The information gained from these studies will contribute to our understanding of the events of meiosis and fertilization, and will strongly benefit multiple fields- the reproductive medicine, the cell cycle, and the cancer fields.
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pre-Health Professions 101: How to Prepare

Thursday, November 3, 2011Professor John FergusonHealth Professions Adviser, Bard CollegeProfessor Ferguson will introduce the pathways leading to post-baccalaureate degrees in the health professions, including allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, optometry, etc. etc. The discussion will be tailored to the interests of the audience. If you are interested in a health profession, but have not attended a similar previous discussion, you should attend this one.

7:00 pm RKC 102

Biology Tutoring

Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Drop-in hours for help with any biology coursework.Contact Shellie Ann Dick (sd458@bard.edu) or Cara Black (cb6473@bard.edu) for more information.

Tuesdays6-10 p.m.
6:00 pm RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, November 8, 2011Attention Biology Students!!

Pizza on the PodA chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!!

Every Tuesday
7:00 pm RKC pods

SynMuv B Proteins and Cell Fate Decisions: How the Worm Develops in a Hot World

Thursday, November 10, 2011
A lecture byLisa PetrellaCandidate for the position in Biology

The successful development of an organism relies on the proper implementation of a series of cell fate decisions. Much progress has been made in understanding how development proceeds in controlled and ideal laboratory settings. However, the majority of organisms, including humans, must implement proper development under a variety of environmental conditions and insults. My research uses the small worm C. elegans to investigate the mechanisms that promote successful development in the face of changing environmental conditions, specifically temperature. I am using genetics, cell biology and bioinformatics to investigate the molecular mechanisms of two developmental processes. First, what role do a group of transcriptional repressors, the synMuv B proteins, play in promoting proper larval growth at high temperature. Second, what mechanisms can worms employ to maintain fertility at high temperature. This research will help us understand the interplay between genotype and environment, an important step toward understanding developmental fidelity and disease susceptibility.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Dark Energy and the Big Lurch

Thursday, November 10, 2011
A lecture byPeter SkiffPhysics ProgramThe discovery of an unexpected acceleration of the expansion of the cosmos led to the awarding of the 2011 Nobel Prize to Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Reiss. While cosmic expansion (the continuous separation of galaxies and clusters) is neatly described by the use of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity and Gravity, this acceleration is not (quite). The most popular of the current speculations involves a mysterious “dark energy” that was somehow lurking undetected in the13.5 billion year old cosmos until about 7 billion years after the origin, inflation, and “big bang” events began the evolutionary track. Apparently this dark energy comprises about 75% of the total matter and energy of the universe. This talk will review the expansion models and the techniques used to measure the galactic motions that led to this discovery, including the theory and observation of type Ia Supernovae. It will be descriptive (no mathematics), in order to be accessible to a general audience.

6:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

DNA Nanotechnology: Applications and Advances

Friday, November 11, 2011
A lecture byNadrian C. SeemanMargaret and Herman Sokol Professor of ChemistryNew York University

DNA, the fundamental building block of life, has the potential to be a highly precise and programmable molecular entity. DNA nanotechnology is a branch of science that uses the basic properties of DNA to create complex three-dimensional structures with wide-ranging applications in DNA computing, DNA robotics, nanoelectronics, and medicine.

Considered the “Father of DNA Nanotechnology,” Nadrian C. Seeman received the prestigious Kavli Prize from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 2010. He also has won the 2011 ISNSCE Nanoscience Prize, 2008 William H. Nichols Medal, 2004 Tulip Award in DNA Computing, and 1995 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology.
5:00 pm Campus Center, Multipurpose Room

Biology Tutoring

Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Drop-in hours for help with any biology coursework.Contact Shellie Ann Dick (sd458@bard.edu) or Cara Black (cb6473@bard.edu) for more information.

Tuesdays6-10 p.m.
6:00 pm RKC pods

CANCELED: InfoChemistry and InfoBiology: Storing and Sending Messages Using Chemistry and Biology

Tuesday, November 15, 2011**THIS LECTURE HAS BEEN CANCELED AND WILL BE RESCHEDULED AT A LATER DATE**A lecture byChristopher LaFrattaChemistry ProgramNature has mastered the art of storing and using information using chemical messages. Here we present two simple demonstrations of alternatives ways that information may be stored and transmitted using chemical reactions. The first example uses the "infofuse" where a combustion reaction is used to create pulses infrared radiation that travel from sender to receiver. The second example uses an assortment of e.Coli engineered to express different fluorescent proteins to create a steganographic message. The bacteria-encoded messages can only be revealed when the growth conditions and illumination conditions are just right. Both of these techniques to encode and transmit messages using chemical/biochemical reactions will be described as along with a brief describe about how these projects came about.
6:30 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, November 15, 2011Attention Biology Students!!

Pizza on the PodA chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!!

Every Tuesday
7:00 pm RKC pods

Community Assembly in Degraded and Recovering Forests: Implications of Land Use Change in Australia

Thursday, November 17, 2011
A lecture byMargaret MayfieldCandidate for the position in Biology

We live at a time in history when every inch of our planet has been impacted by human activities. One of the major causes of ecosystem change is the conversion of natural areas into human land uses. Land use change often results in the formation of novel (or no-analogue) plant and animal communities. These communities form the basis of my research program and are the topic of my research seminar. I will be talking about two of my current projects, one exploring the ecological processes driving novel community formation and the other looking at how to use ecological theory to direct community formation in a restoration context. First I will talk about how species and functional diversity patterns shift with land use change. Then I will tell you about a project I am currently working on in Western Australia. In this project I am using observational and experimental studies to determine the conditions under which we see particularly community responses to land use change and determine which processes drive these changes. Specifically, I will talk about the ways that habitat fragmentation, agricultural runoff and exotic species expansions into native woodland reserves have driven particular community changes. In the second half of my talk, I discuss the flip side of novel community formation - directed restoration. We often create novel communities when we attempt to restore heavily degraded ecosystems, yet it is only recently that efforts have been made to use ecological theory and experimentation to direct restoration activities. I will be telling you about a large-scale rainforest reforestation experiment that I have started in Australia’s wet tropical region. The goal of this project is to improve our understanding of how best to rapidly restore plant and animal diversity while making a profit on emerging carbon markets. I will end my talk with a brief description of the projects I see pursuing at Bard.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

When Can a Specific Weather Event be Attributed to Global Climate Change?

For at least 30 years, unusual weather events periodically re-ignited the raging debate associated with attribution of any specific realization of a random process---in this case an individual weather event----to the generating process---in this case climate, or the probability density function (PDF) of weather.Seductive though this attribution may be to some, it has always been understood by the statistically initiated that to be prudent, such as attribution must rely on nearly complete sampling of the PDF, or at the very least a very close approximation of this condition, which sadly requires effectively infinitely long record.Are we approaching this state now? Can, in other words, we now say with some confidence that the late October snow storm we just had, or the heat wave under which Russia agonized two summers ago, in unequivocally due to anthropogenic climate change? This talk will strive to answer these questions in minimally technical terms accessible to a general audience.

3:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Biology Tutoring

Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Drop-in hours for help with any biology coursework.Contact Shellie Ann Dick (sd458@bard.edu) or Cara Black (cb6473@bard.edu) for more information.

Tuesdays6-10 p.m.
6:00 pm RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, November 22, 2011Attention Biology Students!!

Pizza on the PodA chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!!

Every Tuesday
7:00 pm RKC pods

Effects of Global Change on North American Forests: West Meets East

Tuesday, November 29, 2011
A lecture byEric KeelingCandidate for the position in Biology

Multiple factors are affecting forests across our continent with important social and ecological implications. In the inland Northwest, historically fire-dependent forests are responding to a century of forest management, fire-suppression, and – more recently – a changing climate that is very likely increasing the intensity and severity of wildfires. In this talk, I will show results from work in remote, old-growth ponderosa pine forests that provide insight into the complex interacting effects of human management, altered fire regimes, and climate change. Forests in the eastern US are also responding to important global change factors. I will share results from data collected by forest ecology students at Bard investigating changes in local forests, including a rare, old-growth northern hardwood forest that is responding to invasion of the hemlock woolly adelgid, an introduced insect pest.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Biology Tutoring

Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Drop-in hours for help with any biology coursework.Contact Shellie Ann Dick (sd458@bard.edu) or Cara Black (cb6473@bard.edu) for more information.

Tuesdays6-10 p.m.
6:00 pm RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, November 29, 2011Attention Biology Students!!

Pizza on the PodA chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!!

Every Tuesday
7:00 pm RKC pods

Flowering Across the Seasons: Lagging Adaptation and the Timing of Reproduction Under Changing Climates

Thursday, December 1, 2011
A lecture byAmity WilczekCandidate for the position in Biology

We are living in a time of radical, directional climate change. The timing of leafing out in deciduous forests, onset of different pollen seasons, date of first and last frost, bloom time of showy wildflowers, timing of migration of songbirds and butterflies and bird nesting are all undergoing rapid and obvious shifts detectable on the scale of a human lifetime. If environmental change outpaces the rate of adaptation, populations and species may decline or disappear. Ecological studies that probe the mechanisms of response to climate, as well as the means by which species adapt to climate, may provide us with tools for predicting and mitigating the effects of rapid climate change. To address these questions, colleagues and I have been studying the genetic architecture of seasonal response and adaptation to climate in Arabidopsis thaliana, a cosmopolitan inbreeding annual plant. Using data from a set of European common garden experiments spanning the native climate range (from Mediterranean to sub-Arctic), we developed an environmentally-driven model of development that explained most geographic and seasonal variation in the timing of flowering. Using a panel of natural accessions drawn from throughout A. thaliana’s native range, we also found evidence for adaptation to climate at the whole-organism as well as the gene scale. Furthermore, we find evidence that A. thaliana populations appear to be lagging behind shifting local temperature optima such that migrants from warmer climates are actually better adapted to current conditions than local genotypes. A synthetic approach to understanding adaptation to climate, focusing on the interplay between genes and environment in determining species ecology, may therefore be important for conservation and management efforts under changing climates.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Size, Sociality, and Symbiosis in the Sea

Tuesday, December 6, 2011
A lecture byKristin HultgrenCandidate for the position in Biology

One of the most fundamental questions in understanding diverse tropical ecosystems, such as coral reefs or rainforests, is how numerous related species can coexist. Much of the species diversity in these systems is composed of smaller organisms living as symbionts—parasites, mutualists, or commensals—in larger host species, such as corals, sponges, or plants. Despite the prevalence of symbiotic organisms, little is known about the ecological dynamics of symbiont communities living in hosts. My research integrates ecological and phylogenetic approaches to study the evolution of adaptive traits in symbiotic organisms, and their role in structuring communities. In this talk, I will discuss my current research investigating the maintenance and origins of species diversity in tropical symbiotic snapping shrimp, as well as the research topics I plan to pursue at Bard.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Biology Tutoring

Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Drop-in hours for help with any biology coursework.Contact Shellie Ann Dick (sd458@bard.edu) or Cara Black (cb6473@bard.edu) for more information.

Tuesdays6-10 p.m.
6:00 pm RKC pods

Pizza on the Pod

Tuesday, December 6, 2011Attention Biology Students!!

Pizza on the PodA chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students!!!

Lab Safety Training

Tuesday, September 25, 2012 – Thursday, September 27, 2012REQUIRED OF ALL STUDENTS WORKING OR DOING RESEARCH IN THE LABIf you previously attended a lab training session, you do not need to attend again. If you are unsure, please contact Dwane Decker with questions at decker@bard.edu.Tuesday, September 25 12:30-1:30 RKC 114Wednesday, September 26 12:00-1:00 RKC 114Thursday, September 27 5:00-6:00 RKC 114

A Blizzard in a Bottle: Antibiotic Resistance in Ancient Permafrost

Health Professions 101

Friday, October 12, 2012
Professor Ferguson will introduce the pathways leading to post-baccalaureate degrees in the health professions, including allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, optometry, etc. The discussion will be tailored to the interests of the audience. If you are interested in a health profession, but have not attended a similiar previous discussion, you should attend this one.
7:00 pm RKC 102

Of Centrosome and Kinetochores: Mechanisms of Mitotic Spindle Assembly

Animal Behavior Methodologies Course

Tuesday, October 30, 2012
January 15 - January 26Professor Philip JohnsPhilip Johns will hold an information session for his Animal Behavior Methodologies course during January 2013 intersession. The course includes a 10-day jaunt to the US Virgin Islands to watch animal behavior in the field. Please attend the information session if you are considering this course.
7:00 pm RKC pods

Polarized Light Pollution: A New Form of Ecological Pollution

Thursday, November 1, 2012

A lecture by

Bruce Robertson

Biology Program

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

The Assembly of Birds: How Fossils Allow Us to Understand the Evolution and Origin of Modern Avians

Thursday, November 1, 2012

A lecture by

Mark Norell

American Museum of Natural History

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Combining Cell Biological Approaches and Genetic Models to Investigate How Integrins Control Wound Healing and Cancer

Global Change on the Emerald Planet

Thursday, November 15, 2012
A lecture byAdam WolfPostdoctoral FellowPrinceton UniversityEarth is different from other planets - it has life. While Carl Sagan mused about the Big Blue Marble, more and more we come to understand that the strange history and ambiguous future of the planet hinges on its living green skin - ours is the Emerald Planet. The last 40 years has come a long way in helping understand the role of the biosphere on global processes, based on our understanding of individual leaves, but there remains deep uncertainties on ecological processes in the middle scale, from trees to food webs to ecosystems, to landscapes and beyond. This is the scale at which organismal fitness is realized and evolution unfolds, where there is a major role of ecology and evolutionary biology to play to understand how fortunes may be won or lost as global changes shift the balance between species. And on the Emerald Planet, as species change, so too do the functions and services provided by the ecosystems they constitute. Nevertheless, there remain significant obstacles to improving our understanding at this scale, not least because models of global change fail to understand ecosystems in a truly biological way, in part because it is a challenge to observe the phenomena we wish to understand. In my talk, I will describe a broad set of models, theories and observations I and colleagues have developed to monitor, understand, and predict the manifestations of global change at the ecosystem level.

RNA and Epigenetic Inheritance

Bard Science Journal Research Submission Deadline on March 1

Thursday, February 21, 2013 – Friday, March 1, 2013
Anyone who is interested in submitting a scientific research paper or scientific review to be peer-reviewed should send in their submissions to bardsciencejournal@gmail.com by March 1st.

For more details on our submission guidelines, check out our tumblr at bardsciencejournal.tumblr.com or email us and ask for a pdf copy.
Website

The Herb Garden

Saturday, February 23, 2013
Learn to design and maintain a herb garden, and how to make the most of the herbs you grow. Learn about the individual cultivation needs of culinary and medicinal herbs ans which will be the best ones for your garden.
10:00 am – 12:00 pm Olin Humanities Building
Website: Event Website

Listening In on Hair Cell Activity in the Zebrafish Lateral Line

Garden Design for the Time-Challenged

Saturday, March 2, 2013
Want to have a great garden but don't really have the time? Careful planning can help make your dreams come true. This course (quickly) covers garden layout, plant selection, and maintenance techniques that will make your landscape feel more like a getaway and less like a chore. Instructor: Naomi Brooks
10:00 am – 1:00 pm Olin Humanities Building
Website: Event Website

"Smart Feeders" and Optimal Foraging in Birds

Thursday, March 7, 2013
A lecture by David Bonter, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Americans spend billions of dollars each year feeding birds and provide an enormous food subsidy. But little research has been conducted to understand how birds use the food we provide, and how that food influences the survival and behavior of birds. Using passive integrated transponders (PIT tags) and "smart" bird feeders, we're tracking the feeding behavior of individual birds and gaining an unprecedented view of their activity. This presentation will reveal how we use technology to study feeding behavior, and will explore the movements, survival, and daily and annual activity patterns of our favorite feeder birds.

Environmental Uncertainty and the Evolution of Complex Sociality

The Response of Aquatic Ecosystems to Human Activity

Friday, March 15, 2013
A Lecture by Heather Bechtold, Candidate for the Science Position in Environmental Studies

Dr. Bechtold's research focuses on the effects of global change and human activity across the boundaries of terrestrial and stream ecosystems. Human induced stressors associated with land-use change such as agriculture, forest management and urbanization can alter how streams function (metabolism and nutrient cycling) and can be a source of novel contaminants, such as caffeine. Such inputs can alter the structure and function of stream biofilm (algal communities), which in turn may modify retention and export of these compounds from watersheds. Balancing the input of nutrients and contaminants are important to the health and function of aquatic ecosystems.

10:30 am RKC 111

Fruit Tree Pruning and Training Workshop

Saturday, March 16, 2013
Pruning techniques, with an emphasis on fruit production are discussed and demonstrated on site. Try some supervised pruning yourself. Learn about corrective pruning of neglected and poorly managed trees, and techniques for effective training of young trees. Several kings of fruit trees are discussed. Please dress for the weather, wear eye protection and bring lunch.
12:00 pm – 4:00 pm Olin Humanities Building
Website: Event Website

Human-Dominated Ecosystems: Do Natural Processes Matter?

Tuesday, March 19, 2013
A Lecture by Steve M. Raciti , Candidate for the Science Position in Environmental Studies

If current trends continue, the world’s urban population will double and urban land area will quadruple over the next 50 years. A greater knowledge of urban ecosystems will be essential for predicting and mitigating the environmental consequences of this explosive urban growth. My research uses ecology and biogeochemistry to explore the dynamic interactions between ecosystems, global change, and an increasingly urban human population. For instance, are urban areas important for carbon sequestration? How do urban green spaces influence water quality? What is the fate of soils beneath impervious surfaces? Does greater population density lead to greater sustainability? This seminar will address these questions and others related to the role of ecological processes in urban areas.

4:30 pm RKC 111

You Are What Your Seafood Eats

Wednesday, March 20, 2013
A lecture byRoxanne KarimiCandidate for the science position in Environmental Studies

The consumption of seafood functions as an important link between our environment and our health. Seafood consumption is increasing worldwide, and understanding the risks and benefits of eating different species of fish is critical for human health. Fish from both freshwater and marine environments are primary sources of nutrients, including omega-3 fatty acids and essential trace metals, as well as contaminants, including mercury. This talk will examine how ecological factors influence nutrient and contaminant concentrations in aquatic organisms, and human health through fish consumption.

3:30 pm RKC 102

Distinguished Scientist Scholarship Applications Due

Tuesday, April 2, 2013 – Friday, April 12, 2013
All current students concentrating in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics or physics are eligible to apply for a Distinguished Scientist Scholar (DSS) Award. These awards are given to exceptional students who have distinguished themselves academically in one of the above-mentioned disciplines in the division of Science, Mathematics and Computing. The exact amount of each award is determined by the Financial Aid office, on average $5000 for each academic year, and includes the opportunity to apply for a summer research stipend to participate in NSF or NIH sponsored summer research programs at other institutions, if the student is not already eligible for federal funding. Like other science students at Bard, DSS recipients are also eligible for BSRI funding for summer research at Bard. Please note that this is a very competitive process and only a few awards will be given out each year.Eligibility: To apply for a DSS award (commencing in the fall), a student must meet the following eligibility criteria:o Concentrating in one of the following programs: Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics or Physics.o Not currently receiving a DSS scholarship or award.o Cumulative GPA of 3.0 overall in the college.o Cumulative GPA of 3.5 in courses in the SM&C Division. Application Procedure:o Write a letter of request to the DSS Committee. The letter should discuss your plan of study in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, and/or physics.o Write an essay about an experience in science or math that you found particularly interesting.o Ask two Bard faculty members to write you letters of recommendation. At least one of these faculty members must be in the SM&C Division. They should submit their letters directly to Megan Karcher.o Submit this information as attachments via e-mail to the SM&C Division secretary, Megan Karcher (karcher@bard.edu)Selection Criteria: Awards will be granted to students showing exceptional qualifications in their areas of study and based upon the following:o College academic records.o Letters of recommendations from the faculty.o A strong interest in working in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, or physics.o Availability of funds.Deadline: Applications must be submitted no later than Friday, April 12th, 2013.The DSS Committee will meet shortly after that, and will make recommendations to the Director of Financial Aid, who will determine the final awards. You should receive word of whether you have been selected to receive a DSS award by early May. Questions? Contact Sven Anderson, Chair of the Division of Science, Math and Computing, sanderso@bard.edu.

Bard Summer Research Institute

Jasmine Crumsey Lecture Canceled

Tuesday, June 25, 2013This event has been canceled due to flight problems. It will be rescheduled in July.

Jasmine Crumsey is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her research focuses on how the biodiversity of exotic species impacts ecosystem functions. She is a candidate for the Bard-HHMI postdoctoral fellowship.
4:00 pm RKC 111

Biology Seminar Information Session

Thursday, September 5, 2013
Attend this information session to learn about the biology speaker series for Fall 2013, including the requirements for students registered in the course.

ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY FOR REGISTERED STUDENTS

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Giant Cells and Small Cells in Arabidopsis Flowers

Thursday, September 12, 2013
A lecture by Adrienne Roeder, Cornell University

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Eco-Reps Biweekly Meeting

Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Biweekly meetings on September 17, October 1, October 15, October 29, November 12, November 26, December 10, and December 24.

These meetings are held to discuss upcoming Eco-Rep events, related volunteer opportunies, new Eco-Rep manuel passages, concerns about recycle bins in dorms and other Eco-Rep related activities.

Genetic Analysis of Mosquito Attraction and Repulsion

Thursday, September 19, 2013
A lecture by Matthew DeGennaro, Rockefeller University

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Molecular Mechanisms in Alzheimer's Disease

Thursday, September 26, 2013
A lecture by Victor Bustos, Rockefeller University

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

A Lecture by Nobel Laureate Robert Grubbs: Green Chemistry: Examples from Catalysis

Thursday, September 26, 2013
A lecture by Dr. Robert Grubbs, Nobel Laureate, 2005

6:00 pm Olin Hall

Thinking Like A River (opening night)

Thursday, September 26, 2013
Following on Wofford College’s successful Fall 2012 Thinking Like a River Conference, Thinking Like a River moves north—to Bard College. John Lane—poet, naturalist, southern nature writer and river rat—launched the first Thinking Like a River weekend and he will be on campus to lead discussions and canoe outings over the course of the weekend. With him will be poets, writers, activists, naturalists and river lovers discussing rivers in an interdisciplinary manner. The weekend will kick off on Thursday September 26 at 6 in Bard Hall with music, poems and local food! Bard graduate Chris Rubeo will sing river songs in the tradition of Pete Seeger and Betty and the Baby Boomers and talk about his environmental work. Art from Lisa Sanditz’s art class will grace the walls along with photographs from Tim Davis’s color photography class. Guests John Lane and Elizabeth Bradfield will read poems and they will be joined by Bard College faculty Celia Bland and Phil Pardi. Come think about rivers and learn more about Bard’s Environmental and Urban Studies Program.
6:00 pm Bard Hall, Bard College Campus
Website: Event Website

Design and Applications of Selective Olefin Metathesis Catalysts

Friday, September 27, 2013
A lecture by Dr. Robert Grubbs, Nobel Laureate, 2005

11:30 am Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Thinking Like A River (guest presentations)

Friday, September 27, 2013Friday Sept. 27 at 2 in RKC 103 Think Like a River with John Lane, Wofford College; John Cronin, activist and professor at Pace University and Clarkson University; Liz Bradfield, founder of Broadsided Press, naturalist, and Jacob Ziskind Visiting Poet-in-residence at Brandeis University; and Emma Rosi-Marshall, acquatic ecologist at the Cary Institute. After a short break with refreshments students will present their work. Gleb Mikhalev will show films he created of salmon on our western rivers, Christina Baal will share paintings of the natural life of the Hudson River and Bard CEP student Ashely Brinkman will discuss her work with the EPA on the Ohio River.
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium
Website: Event Website

Thinking Like A River (student presentations)

Friday, September 27, 2013Friday 4-5PM: Bard student presentations: Gleb Mikhalev will show films he created of salmon on our western rivers, Christina Baal will share paintings of the natural life of the Hudson River and Bard CEP student Ashely Brinkman will discuss her work with the EPA on the Ohio River.
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium
Website: Event Website

Eco-Reps Biweekly Meeting

Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Biweekly meetings on September 17, October 1, October 15, October 29, November 12, November 26, December 10, and December 24.

These meetings are held to discuss upcoming Eco-Rep events, related volunteer opportunies, new Eco-Rep manuel passages, concerns about recycle bins in dorms and other Eco-Rep related activities.

Fungal Bioremediation of Synthetic Plastic Polymers

Thursday, November 7, 2013
A lecture byKaury KuceraCandidate for the position in Biology

Endophytic fungi, or endophytes, live symbiotically in the inner tissues of plants. The biological diversity of endophytes and the chemical diversity of their natural products are not well described. Endophytes have evolved unique capabilities to live in low nutrient environments, utilize diverse carbon sources for growth and decompose a variety of plant polymers including cellulose, natural rubber and latex. There is a growing body of literature describing the ability of fungi to degrade synthetic polymers. The accumulation of these polymers, in the forms of various plastics and rubbers in the environment is a global concern due in large part to the chemical stability of many synthetic polymers. The mechanisms and metabolic pathways fungi use to break down natural polymers can be harnessed to break down synthetic polymers. Undergraduates in the Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory course at Yale University have discovered a fungal enzyme with polyurethane degrading activity. Future work will focus on describing the potential of endophytes to degrade other commercially used plastics and rubbers.
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Lynda and Stewart Resnick Science Laboratories

How to Make a Tomato: Comparative Fruit Development in the Nightshade Family

Thursday, November 14, 2013
A lecture byAmy LittCandidate for the position in Biology

Fleshy, edible fruit have evolved from dry fruit in many flowering plant families, with important economic and ecological consequences. In the nightshade family (Solanaceae), many species produce dry, woody fruits (capsules) that split open at maturity to release their seeds, but a large group that includes tomato, potato, eggplant, and pepper produces fleshy fruit (berries) that are eaten by animals who disperse the seeds. We are interested in the developmental and genetic changes that led to the evolution of the berry. In both fruit types, development includes a phase of extensive cell division followed by cell differentiation and then ripening or maturation, although the specific patterns and processes differ. Comparative transcriptome analyses of tomatoes and desert tobacco capsules during the stage of cell division provided a list of hundreds of genes that appear to be acting differently in the two fruit types. We studied one of these, FRUITFULL (FUL), to determine whether it plays a role in berry and capsule formation in Solanaceae. Our analyses show that whereas species with fleshy fruits, such as tomato, have four copies of this gene, species with dry capsular fruits have only three. In tomato one of these genes, FUL2, controls a wide variety of traits including fruit size, shape, and color. Notably, it is important in determining the thickness of the tomato fruit wall, a key feature that distinguishes berries and capsules. In contrast, FUL2 appears to have no effect on desert tobacco capsule development. Our results suggest that changes in the number and function of FUL genes might have played an important role in the evolutionary origin of fleshy fruit.
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Eco-Reps Biweekly Meeting

Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Biweekly meetings on September 17, October 1, October 15, October 23, November 6, November 20, December 4, and December 18.

These meetings are held to discuss upcoming Eco-Rep events, related volunteer opportunies, new Eco-Rep manuel passages, concerns about recycle bins in dorms and other Eco-Rep related activities.

Monday, December 2, 2013
Mary Blair, Ph.D., is Assistant Director for Research and Strategic Planning at the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) and an NSF Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) Fellow.

The Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) has engaged in scientific research to inform conservation in Vietnam since 1997, resulting in over 42 new species described. Most recently, CBC began a project to inform and improve the conservation management of slow lorises, which are small, nocturnal primates. The greatest threat to the survival of slow lorises is the illegal wildlife trade; they are in high demand across their range for traditional medicines, as pets, and for food. By studying populations found in protected areas across Vietnam and nearby wildlife markets, CBC scientists have been gathering the basic biological data that are necessary for conservation managers to more effectively protect these species. CBC is now embarking on a new dimension of this project in collaboration with Dr. Gautam Sethi at Bard, to integrate biological approaches with econometrics to better understand the nature of the wildlife trade in Vietnam and its impacts on slow loris populations. Multidisciplinary approaches such as these are increasingly necessary and appropriate to solve today’s complex conservation challenges.More on Mary Blair
6:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Postscript: The Rise and Fall of Human Explanation

Tuesday, December 3, 2013
A lecture by Daniel Povinelli, Professor of Biology University of Louisiana at Lafayette

One of the defining features of humans is the capacity to construct reasons for why things happen. Povinelli will explore some of the evidence that supports the difference between humans and animals. The talk will conclude by showing how, in science, this explanatory drive can be properly regarded as a mania, and as it proceeds largely uncontrolled, will continue to both improve, and increasingly threaten, our existence.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Crisis of Current Genetic Terminology: On the Way to a New Paradigm

Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Dr. Tikhodeev is the Life Science Program Director at Smolny College, which is the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences at St. Petersburg State University. The University partnered with Bard College to establish Smolny College. Dr. Tikhodeev is a member of the consulting committee on Smolny’s science curriculum.

4:30 pm RKC 111

Eco-Reps Biweekly Meeting

Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Biweekly meetings on September 17, October 1, October 15, October 23, November 6, November 20, December 4, and December 18.

These meetings are held to discuss upcoming Eco-Rep events, related volunteer opportunies, new Eco-Rep manuel passages, concerns about recycle bins in dorms and other Eco-Rep related activities.

Thursday, December 5, 2013
A lecture byArseny KhakhalinCandidate for the position in Biology

It is generally presumed that such phenomena as perception, cognition, and decision making are ultimately mediated by the coordinated activity of neural cells in the brain. It is still unclear however how information is encoded and processed by distributed neural networks, and how spiking of individual neurons can contribute to emergent functions of the nervous system. In my research, I use a small vertebrate animal (the African clawed frog tadpole), and an array of simple behaviors, such as visually guided avoidance, and acoustic startles, to understand how sensory information is processed in the brain, and how it is transformed into meaningful behavioral outputs. Among other findings, this experimental system helped to elucidate the mechanisms of distributed computations in recurrent neural circuits, and the role of inhibition for the control of recurrent network activity.

Senior Project Poster Session

Wednesday, December 11, 2013
A lecture by Seeta Sistla, candidate for the position in Environmental Science

As the climate warms and resource demand grows, ecological change is occurring at unprecedented rates globally. Projecting the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to global change factors is of growing concern because these ecosystems are fundamental regulators of the global carbon, nutrient, and water cycles, as well as agricultural productivity. A major challenge facing ecologists is the task of accounting for the suite of stabilizing and destabilizing feedbacks between the plant and the soil systems that collectively govern terrestrial ecosystem responses to perturbation. Using theoretical, field, laboratory, and modeling approaches, my research seeks to identify the mechanisms underlying terrestrial ecosystem responses to global change factors and their consequences for ecosystem function.

Much of my research is focused in the Arctic, which is a critical component of the global carbon cycle because this biome stores nearly half of the world’s soil carbon (almost double the carbon in the atmosphere). Cold temperatures suppress soil breakdown, promoting Arctic soil carbon build up. However, the Arctic is experiencing the highest rate of warming globally, which may accelerate decomposition, driving the release of soil carbon as potent greenhouse gasses, including carbon dioxide and methane. I will present results from the longest-running tundra ecosystem warming experiment in existence (initiated in Alaska in 1989) that examines the consequences of warming on Arctic carbon cycling. I will also discuss how I am applying this research framework beyond the Arctic to more directly coupled human-natural systems, through a new project documenting how changing land use practices in response to rapid globalization impact agricultural biodiversity, soil biodiversity, and crop productivity in the Neotropics.

5:45 pm RKC 111

Reconstructing the Ancient Proteome and Its Emergence from an RNA World

Thursday, December 12, 2013
A lecture by Aaron Goldman, candidate for the position in Biology

Many of life's fundamental features are thought to have evolved by the time of the last universal common ancestor represented by the root of the tree of life. Several lines of evidence suggest that this form of life was preceded by a simpler one in which RNA genes encoded RNA enzymes that were likely enhanced by other organic and inorganic catalysts. In this talk, I will present new approaches for reconstructing the proteome and metabolism of last universal common ancestor and relating its enzymatic features to the primitive life from which it emerged.
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Beyond the Banks: Investigating the Influence of Water Quality on Air Quality in the Hudson River Estuary

Wednesday, December 18, 2013
A lecture by M. Elias Dueker candidate for the position in Environmental Science

Urban water bodies, such as the lower Hudson River Estuary (HRE), often receive high levels of microbial contamination through the release of untreated sewage. Bubbles bursting at the water’s surface release microscopic particles (aerosols) into the air, providing a mechanism for water quality to influence urban air quality. Bubbles are introduced to surface waters through wind-wave interactions, wave-shore interactions, boating, and environmental remediation efforts.

My urban ecological research has confirmed the transfer of bacteria from HRE surface waters to waterfront air, including sewage-associated bacteria, antibiotic resistant bacteria, and asthma-inducing endotoxins. These findings have important ecological and public health implications. The delivery of viable bacteria and chemical compounds from water surfaces to the air and eventually to land represents a direction of inter-ecosystem transfer not usually considered. The aerosolization of contaminated HRE waters into urban airspace greatly expands the potential for human health impacts, potentially requiring a new approach to the management of air and water resources in the urban environment.

12:00 pm Hegeman 106

Eco-Reps Biweekly Meeting

Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Biweekly meetings on September 17, October 1, October 15, October 23, November 6, November 20, December 4, and December 18.

These meetings are held to discuss upcoming Eco-Rep events, related volunteer opportunities, new Eco-Rep manuel passages, concerns about recycle bins in dorms and other Eco-Rep related activities.

The Ecology and Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance: From Ancient Bacteria to Modern Pathogens

Thursday, December 19, 2013
A lecture by Gabriel Perron, candidate for the position in Biology

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Effects of Human Disturbances on Nitrogen and Carbon Cycling in River Networks

Thursday, December 19, 2013
A lecture by Madeleine Mineau, candidate for the position in Environmental Science

My research is focused on understanding the effects of human disturbances, such as land use and climate change, atmospheric pollution, and invasive species, on ecosystem function and water quality in river networks. Nutrient pollution due to human activities is associated with eutrophication and “dead zones”, contamination of drinking water, and economic impacts on tourism and property values. It is therefore important to further our understanding of nutrient cycling and processing in river systems to improve the management of water resources to maximize water quality and maintain a high quality of life.

A current focus of my research aims to model the effects of forecasted land development and climate change on the loading and processing of nitrogen (N) in river networks. I am using the Framework for Aquatic Modeling in Earth Systems (FrAMES), which is a spatially distributed and time varying hydrologic model coupled with aquatic biogeochemical models. I am examining issues such as the effect of the spatial distribution of development within coastal watersheds on the river network’s capacity to process and remove N. Furthermore, I am collaborating with social scientists to investigate public perceptions of water quality issues to identify misconceptions and knowledge gaps to improve water quality management.

5:30 pm RKC 111

Biology Seminar Series Information Session

Thursday, January 30, 2014
Attend this information session to learn about the biology speaker series for Fall 2013, including the requirements for students registered for the course.

ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY FOR REGISTERED STUDENTS

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

EcoReps Biweekly Meeting

Wednesday, February 5, 2014
EcoReps are the sustainability advocates on campus, especially in dorms. If you want to be the EcoRep of your dorm, or just want to learn more, come to the meeting! All are welcome.
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Campus Center, Meeting Room 214

The Molecular Signature of Hair-Cell Progenitors in the Zebrafish Lateral Line

Thursday, February 6, 2014
A lecture by Aaron Steiner, Candidate for the position in Biology

Hearing impairment is most frequently caused by the loss of sensory hair cells, which do not naturally regenerate in mammals. The zebrafish lateral line serves as an ideal model for studying hair-cell regeneration, in part because in this system have been described progenitors—called mantle cells—from which hair-cell precursors originate. I have produced zebrafish with fluorescently labeled mantle cells, devised a method to isolate these cells by flow cytometry, and analyzed their transcriptional makeup. I have further defined the temporal window during which mantle cells respond to hair-cell death, and identified genes that are activated and repressed in these cells during regeneration. My approach has implicated unexpected signaling pathways in hair-cell replenishment, and may contribute to the development of treatments for hearing loss.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

EcoReps Biweekly Meeting

Wednesday, February 19, 2014
EcoReps are the sustainability advocates on campus, especially in dorms. If you want to be the EcoRep of your dorm, or just want to learn more, come to the meeting! All are welcome.
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Campus Center, Meeting Room 214

Canid Genomics: A Tale of Diverging Tails

EcoReps Biweekly Meeting

Wednesday, March 5, 2014
EcoReps are the sustainability advocates on campus, especially in dorms. If you want to be the EcoRep of your dorm, or just want to learn more, come to the meeting! All are welcome.
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Campus Center, Meeting Room 214

Kuru Updated

Tuesday, March 11, 2014
The unraveling of the epidemic of kuru, a neurodegenerative disease, in a remote area of New Guinea, led to two Nobel Prizes in science and a classic ethnography, Kuru Sorcery, by anthropologist Shirley Lindenbaum, who uncovered the role of endocannibalism in this disease's transmission. The revised and updated second edition of Kuru Sorcery provides an opportunity for a conversation about the place of anthropology in an interdisciplinary research project. Rayna Rapp will consider how kuru helped to define the emergence of medical anthropology in the context of multi-disciplinary research. Shirley Lindenbaum will reflect on how the kuru story has been elaborated in popular literature.

4:45 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Why Are Bees Sick? A Search for Synergistic Effects

EcoReps Biweekly Meeting

Wednesday, March 19, 2014
EcoReps are the sustainability advocates on campus, especially in dorms. If you want to be the EcoRep of your dorm, or just want to learn more, come to the meeting! All are welcome.
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Campus Center, Meeting Room 214

Psoriasis: A Window to the Human Immune System

Cancer, Bacteria, and Yeast, Oh My!

Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Several experimental and clinical studies have documented that the order in which chemotherapy drugs are administered affects the outcome of cancer treatment. I present a brief discussion of a simple mathematical mechanism to explain this order dependence in conjunction with more detailed models which investigate the specific relationship between drug order and treatment response in breast cancer chemotherapy and gastric cancer chemotherapy. In all cases, I simulate treatment by bolus injection and employ a pulsing condition to indicate cell kill. I then extend this type of treatment model to my current investigation which considers the dynamics of bacteria and yeast populations. I model these populations as competitive species and simulate antibiotic treatment to investigate how this treatment alters the behavior and dynamics of the populations perhaps leading to an infectious state.

4:45 pm Hegeman 204

EcoReps Biweekly Meeting

Wednesday, April 9, 2014
EcoReps are the sustainability advocates on campus, especially in dorms. If you want to be the EcoRep of your dorm, or just want to learn more, come to the meeting! All are welcome.
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Campus Center, Meeting Room 214

Neurological Limits on Free Will: Can We Look Before We Leap?

EcoReps Biweekly Meeting

Wednesday, April 23, 2014
EcoReps are the sustainability advocates on campus, especially in dorms. If you want to be the EcoRep of your dorm, or just want to learn more, come to the meeting! All are welcome.
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Campus Center, Meeting Room 214

Getting There Is Only Half the Battle: The Fate of Seeds in a Fragmented World

New Allies and Ancient Enemies: Antibiotic Discovery in the Post-Genomic Era

EcoReps Biweekly Meeting

Wednesday, May 7, 2014
EcoReps are the sustainability advocates on campus, especially in dorms. If you want to be the EcoRep of your dorm, or just want to learn more, come to the meeting! All are welcome.
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Campus Center, Meeting Room 214

Living Close to Your Neighbors: The Importance of Positive Interactions in Plant Communities

Friday, May 9, 2014
Competition for resources is incredibly important in plant communities: neighboring plants share a common resource pool, and living close to your neighbors means that less resources are available for you. It’s a zero sum game. Interestingly, differential competition between neighbors can help explain many of the main themes in modern community ecology: why certain species can coexist, why species diversity is high or low, and what controls species invasions. However, recent work has demonstrated that there may often be benefits to living close to your neighbors as well, particularly during periods of environmental severity. In particular, densely packed neighboring plants can create a unique micro-environment where temperatures are cooler, relative humidity is higher, evaporative demand is lower, and wind is reduced. In this research seminar I will discuss how these two opposing forces influence plant performance, and how plant communities may reflect dynamic changes in both resource availability (affecting competition) and environmental severity (in terms of facilitation). As climate change increases the occurrence of extreme weather events in the future, understanding the role of positive interactions in plant communities may become increasingly important.

9:00 am RKC 115

Biology Student Talks

Thursday, May 15, 2014Ismary Blanco“Zebrafish as a model organism for studying Alzheimer's disease–focusing on the biological role of ADAM10a”

Haya Dandees“The Effect of Stress on Taste Perception of Sweet, Salt, and Fat”

Aliza Ray“DNA Survey of American Eels (Anguilla rostrata) in Hudson River Tributaries”

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Senior Project Poster Session

Thursday, May 15, 2014
6:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center

Pre-health Professions 101: How to Prepare

Monday, August 25, 2014Professor Frank ScalzoHealth Professions Adviser, Bard CollegeProfessor Scalzo will introduce the pathways leading to post-baccalaureate degrees in the health professions, including allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, optometry, etc. etc. The discussion will be tailored to the interests of the audience. If you are interested in a health profession, but have not attended a similar previous discussion, you should attend this one.

5:15 pm RKC 101

Biology Seminar Series Information Session

Thursday, September 4, 2014
Attend this information session to learn about the biology speaker series for fall 2014, including the requirements for students registered for the course.

Investigating the Formation of Pigment Patterns and Cancer Development in Zebrafish

Maker Faire!

Saturday, September 20, 2014
The Science, Mathematics & Computing Division will be sending a bus down to the New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY on Saturday, September 20. Space on the bus is LIMITED. The bus will depart RKC promptly at 9 a.m. and return to campus at approximately 7 p.m.

Tickets to get into the Faire and a spot in the van are $30.00. CASH ONLY, EXACT CHANGE ONLY.Reservations will be accepted until Friday, September 12

TO RESERVE YOUR TICKET AND A SPOT IN THE VAN, PLEASE SEE MEGAN KARCHER, RKC 219. Office hours are Monday-Friday, 8:00-4:00 p.m.

Bard Summer Research Institute Poster Session

Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Join faculty and students who participated in this year's Bard Summer Research Institute in presenting their work!

Songs and the Suburbs: What Birds Can Teach Us About Communication and Conservation

Moving Past the Resolution Limit: STED and PALM Microscopy

Tuesday, October 21, 2014
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2014 was awarded to Drs. Hell, Moerner and Betzig for their work in extending the resolution limit of optical microscopy. This lecture, aimed at the general audience, will discuss some of the basics of traditional microscopy and will give insight into how the new types of super-resolution microscopy work. Professors LaFratta and Jude will also be detailing some of the new microscopes that will be purchased for Bard as part of a new Sherman Fairchild Grant received this past spring.

Predicting Future Reservoirs of Zoonotic Infectious Diseases

Tips for Crafting a Rich Summer Experience in Biology

Thursday, November 6, 2014
Join Felicia Keesing and a panel of celebrity biologists for some valuable information on how to plan for an enriching summer experience in 2015. Learn when and where you should be looking, what you should be looking for, and how to go about getting the opportunity you want. Also, our top 10 tips for how to ask for letters of reference. Don't miss it!
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Avian Vision and Adaptive Coloration: Inside the Sensory World of Birds

Thursday, November 13, 2014
Birds are endowed with a sophisticated visual system that allows them to experience the world in ways humans cannot. How does a bird's visual experience influence its behavior and evolution? I use a multidisciplinary approach to investigate avian coloration. From a mechanistic perspective, I am interested in understanding how sensory systems work and how colors are produced. From a functional perspective, I am fascinated by the diversity of colorful signals and the adaptive advantages they convey. In this talk, I show how taking a "bird's-eye view" reveals surprising insights into the sensory world of birds, using examples from plumage evolution, egg mimicry and camouflage.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Living Close to Your Neighbors:Competition and Facilitation in Plant Communities

Tuesday, November 18, 2014
12:00 pm RKC 102

Linking Mechanism and Function Through Ecophysiology:Lessons From Mice and Elk

Thursday, November 20, 2014
Evolution and ecology influence physiological traits and physiology in turn, influences ecology and even evolutionary trajectories. Although an organism is more than the sum of its phenotypic traits, the question of how different physiological systems interact is often ignored. I seek to understand how complex interactions between immune and metabolic traits affect physiological function at the organismal level, and study the consequences of individual variation in physiology on ecological and evolutionary timescales. For example, trade-offs among physiological systems can constrain phenotypes, and trade-offs with other ecologically relevant traits can hinder local adaptation and act as evolutionary constraints. In recent work I explored trade-offs among ecologically important traits using mice artificially selected for high maximal metabolic rates (MMR); I found that selection for high MMR, but not corresponding evolved changes in basal metabolic rate suppressed innate immune function and altered growth trajectories. These findings revealed connections among physiological systems with consequences for individual variation in life history traits. I am also interested in understanding how environmental variation affects expression of functional traits. To test the hypothesis that the strength of immune function correlates with resource availability, I experimentally manipulated the population density of free-ranging North American elk and found that levels of constitutive immunity are inversely related to nutritional state. This surprising result informs our understanding of the complicated interactions between resource availability, animal physiology, and disease dynamics. As a whole, these experiments demonstrate the connectivity of physiological systems and the need for a systems approach to fully understand how natural selection acts on organisms.

12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

The Ecology and Evolution of Life History Strategies In Livebearing Fish

Thursday, December 4, 2014
Biologists are fascinated with the different strategies organisms use to reproduce because these traits are directly linked with fitness. In the livebearing fish family Poeciliidae, we see immense diversity in the amount of resources devoted to reproduction, and how and when these resources are allocated. This talk explores the costs and benefits of these strategies, first examining the validity Trexler-DeAngelis model for the evolution of placental reproduction, and then investigating how pregnancy affects locomotor performance and habitat use in the Trinidadian guppy.
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

The Ecology of Pathogen Amplification: Trophic Cascades, Resource Pulses, and the Dilution Effect

White Sharks: Estimate of the Population Number

Study Abroad with School for Field Studies

Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Biology or EUS major looking to study abroad next term? A rep from study abroad program School for Field Studies is on campus today with information about their programs worldwide. Drop by to see if one of their programs might be for you!

Thinking about Study Abroad but don't know how it works at Bard? It's never too early to start planning where/when/how. Contact Study Abroad Adviser Trish Fleming at 845-758-7080 or fleming@bard.edu to make an appointment.
10:00 am – 2:00 pm Campus Center, Lobby
Website: Event Website

The Evolutionary Ecology of Mutualism: Lessons From Ants That Farm Aphids

Illuminating Cancer Biology Using Transparent Zebrafish

Distinguished Scientist Scholarship Applications Now Being Accepted

Thursday, March 12, 2015 – Friday, April 3, 2015Distinguished Scientist Scholar (DSS) AwardGuidelines and Application Instructions All current students concentrating in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics or physics are eligible to apply for a Distinguished Scientist Scholar (DSS) Award. These awards are given to exceptional students who have distinguished themselves academically in one of the above-mentioned disciplines in the division of Science, Mathematics and Computing. The exact amount of each award is determined by the Financial Aid office, on average $5000 for each academic year, and includes the opportunity to apply for a summer research stipend to participate in NSF or NIH sponsored summer research programs at other institutions, if the student is not already eligible for federal funding. Like other science students at Bard, DSS recipients are also eligible for BSRI funding for summer research at Bard. Please note that this is a very competitive process and only a few awards will be given out each year. · Eligibility: To apply for a DSS award (commencing in the fall), a student must meet the following eligibility criteria:o Concentrating in one of the following programs: Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics or Physics.o Not currently receiving a DSS scholarship or award.o Cumulative GPA of 3.0 overall in the college.o Cumulative GPA of 3.5 in courses in the SM&C Division. · Application Procedure:o Write a letter of request to the DSS Committee. The letter should discuss your plan of study in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, and/or physics.o Write an essay about an experience in science or math that you found particularly interesting.o Ask two Bard faculty members to write you letters of recommendation. At least one of these faculty members must be in the SM&C Division. They should submit their letters directly to Megan Karcher.o Submit this information as attachments via e-mail to the SM&C Division secretary, Megan Karcher (karcher@bard.edu) · Selection Criteria: Awards will be granted to students showing exceptional qualifications in their areas of study and based upon the following:o College academic records.o Letters of recommendations from the faculty.o A strong interest in working in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, or physics.o Availability of funds. · Deadline: Applications must be submitted no later than Friday, April 3rd, 2015. The DSS Committee will meet shortly after that, and will make recommendations to the Director of Financial Aid, who will determine the final awards. You should receive word of whether you have been selected to receive a DSS award by early May. Questions? Contact Robert McGrail, Chair of the Division of Science, Math and Computing, mcgrail@bard.edu.

Reem-Kayden Center

Dimming the Sun:How Clouds and Air Pollution Affect Global Climate

Wednesday, March 25, 2015
While anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are well known contributors to global warming, the additional impact of short-lived air pollution (e.g. anthropogenic aerosols) is not well understood. The potential for this air pollution to modify climate or even mask global warming will be introduced and the wider implications of aerosol-induced global dimming, including geoengineering prospects, will be discussed.

Beate Liepert is scientist and artist. Climate change and specifically the cycling of water and energy in a changing world are overarching themes of her research. Highlights of her research are the discovery of the phenomenon “global dimming”, which is the increase in atmospheric transparency, and its responsibility for masking parts of the global warming signal in the 20th century. She further pioneered research on the causes of dimming and its implications for the water and carbon cycle on Earth. Beate received a PhD in Meteorology from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany.

In 1996 she moved to New York City to become Doherty Research Scientist at Columbia University. Beate contributed a section on global dimming to the IPCC 4th Assessment Report “Scientific Basis” (chapter 3.4.4.2) that won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2007. While living in New York City, Beate attended the Certificate Program of Fine Arts at Parsons New School of Design. She moved to Seattle in 2009, and became partner and principal investigator at NorthWest Research Associates, a cooperative for basic and applied research.

Beate’s current research focuses on shifting weather patterns with global warming, and novel solar energy innovations. As artist Beate collaborates with the Seattle based artist, educator and designer Marisa Vitiello on a series of automatism drawings. In 2015 Marisa and Beate have been selected by Spaceworks Tacoma to do an installation in the downtown storefront program and in the Evergreen Association of Fine Arts Gallery Open Abstract Show in Seattle Washington.

7:00 pm Campus Center, Weis Cinema

The Complexity of Marine Microbial Communities Revealed through (Meta)Genomics

Lichens: An Exploration of a Hidden World in Peril

A Journey in Fish Migration

Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Migration is a fascinating aspect of fish ecology. Some species can migrate thousands of miles back to their spawning grounds. Of course, these journeys are not without challenges. In this presentation, I will show how fish migration affects individual survival and population persistence. I will also present how we use fish “ear stones” to help us answer ecological questions.
11:45 am Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Tracking Down the Untraceable: Using Whole Genome Sequencing to Identify Sources of Salmonella Food Poisoning

Faculty Seminar

Wednesday, April 22, 2015When Good Animals Make Bad Decisions: Evolutionary Traps as Conservation Threats and Tools Presented by Bruce RobertsonDo you ever find yourself attracted to something you know is bad for your health? You may be caught in an evolutionary trap. Evolutionary traps are scenarios that occur when the behavioral cues we use to make decisions, suddenly lead us to prefer behaviors that reduce our survival and reproduction, instead of increasing it. Traps generally occur when the environment changes too rapidly for natural selection to act to adapt animals to new conditions or when their ability to learn is slow. As humans rapidly transform the planet, we are creating novel species interactions and objects that can fool wild animals into preferring behaviors that potentially lead to their own extinction. I will discuss my research exploring why evolutionary traps occur in wildlife populations, what we are learning about how to eliminate traps or minimize their impacts on wildlife, and how we might even use evolutionary traps as highly effective weapons against invasive species that threaten the existence of native species through their disruption of ecosystems. Faculty and staff are invited to join us at 6:30 p.m. for a reception in the Olin Atrium prior to the event.
7:00 pm Olin, Room 102

Uncovering the Extent and Functional Significance of the Small Proteome in the Eukaryotic Parasite Trypanosoma brucei

Community Garden POTLUCK #2

Friday, April 24, 2015
Hello farm folk, the community garden will be hosting another potluck this friday from 4:00- 9:00 pm! Bring food, bring drinks, bring friends, or just bring yourself! Of course there will be fire and fire food! woo! We will be planting some more trees as well so sport your fashionable garden clothes if you feel like getting dirty. Perhaps there will be pineapple...
4:00 pm – 9:00 pm Community Garden

Lee Reich Tree Management

Sunday, April 26, 2015
The Community Garden is hosting renowned Agronomist Lee Reich. He will be leading a tree managament workshop, which covers pruning, grafting and planting trees. This workshop is hands-on and involves active participation with the Garden's fruit trees and shrubs.
1:00 pm – 3:30 am Community Garden

In Search of Lost Frogs:The Quest to Find the World's Rarest Amphibians and Other Stories

Thursday, April 30, 2015
How do we engage a public, increasingly disempowered by prophecies of inevitable doom and gloom, in conservation?

In a bid to tap into our thirst for adventure and discovery, Moore spearheaded in 2010 The Search for Lost Frogs, a campaign that sent more than thirty teams into twenty countries in search of frogs, salamanders and caecilians unseen in decades. The quest led to more than a dozen rediscoveries and a flurry of attention. As the Economist put it, "Frogs got more media scrutiny than at any time since Noah's Ark." It had rapidly become, according to Mongabay, "one of conservation's most exciting expeditions." Stories of rediscovery transformed amphibians from symbols of extinction to symbols of hope in Israel, Haiti, and beyond, and inspired a book - a narrative of his journey wrapped around over 400 eye-popping images of frogs. In Search of Lost Frogs was featured as one of the Guardian's Best Nature Books of 2014, Mother Nature Network's Best Conservation Photography Books of 2014 and one of The Dodo's "14 Books That Changed The Way We Think About Animals."

Inspired by the success of the Search for Lost Frogs, Moore spearheaded two more initiatives using photography and visual storytelling to engage people in conservation. He will show images from his series Metamorphosis, a unique visual campaign blending science and art to explore our connection with amphibians, and talk about Frame of Mind, a program to connect youth in Haiti with their environment through photography and visual storytelling. Together, these three approaches strive to engage and reconnect us with our natural world and some of its most imperiled inhabitants.
12:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Hudson Valley Life Sciences Spring Symposium

Thursday, April 30, 2015
Join life science students and faculty from Marist College, Vassar College, SUNY New Paltz and Bard as they present posters about their research. Bard Professor Bruce Robertson will deliver the keynote address at 6:30 pm entitled "When Good Animals Make Bad Decisions: Evolutionary Traps as Conservation Threats and Tools."
5:00 pm – 8:30 pm Reem-Kayden Center

Nutrients and Pollutants in Aquatic Systems - Making Sense of Complex Controls at the Landscape Scale

Wednesday, July 1, 2015
My research uses a landscape perspective to answer questions about the effects of human alteration to and interaction with aquatic ecosystems. Understanding large-scale processes can inform ecosystem managers and better inform ecologists so that our expectations of management and restoration activities are more aligned with ecologically reasonable outcomes. I will present the findings from two large watershed studies on how landscape properties influence aquatic nutrients and pollution.

I will also present preliminary findings from a student centered national survey of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in rivers and streams. Humans have influenced nearly every ecosystem on earth, and as population grows the function and services on which we rely will have to be provided by ecosystems that are more substantially altered. A better understanding of large-scale processes is needed in order to meet long-term goals of environmental sustainability.

4:00 pm Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium

Ghosts of Photosynthesis Past and the Green Trojan Horse: Effects of Atmospheric Change and Infection on Competition in Plant Communities

Thursday, July 16, 2015
Changes to the global atmosphere, including increasing levels of carbon dioxide and tropospheric ozone, can significantly alter plant physiology, competition, and community composition. However, much less is known about the effects of these atmospheric changes on viral plant disease, despite the profound effects such diseases can have on their hosts and communities. I used open top chambers in the field to examine the effects of rising carbon dioxide and ozone on the probability of disease establishment and proportion of plants infected by barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), an economically and environmentally important pathogen of plants in the grass tribe. I examined the effects of both gases on within-host viral fitness, viral spread and host competition in monocultures and mixtures of two grasses: the epidemiologically important host Avena fatua and the poor viral host Setaria lutescens. Elevated levels of carbon dioxide alone increased the probability of disease establishment in Avena, but elevated levels of both atmospheric gases reduced the probability of disease establishment. In mixtures of Avena and Setaria, within-host viral fitness and transmission rates in both Avena and Setaria were enhanced. In addition, when Avena and Setaria were grown in competition, carbon dioxide reduced the benefits to Avena of growing in mixtures across infection treatments. Although presence in mixtures significantly suppressed growth in Setaria, CO2 increased reproductive output in infected plants. These results suggest an important role for infection in grassland communities under changing global atmospheres.